Athapaththu’s 195* trumps Wolvaardt’s 184* in epic SL chase

The Sri Lankan captain was unfazed by the mini-collapse and simply kept batting. She brought up a hundred off 78 balls in the 26th over and kept Sri Lanka on track as South Africa unraveled. Their fielding was sloppy; overthrows were offered aplenty and importantly, Athapaththu was dropped on 128 by Sune Luus in deep mid-wicket off Nonkululeko Mlaba in the 32nd over. At the time, Sri Lanka still needed 106 runs from 18.3 overs.

Athapaththu made the most of her let-off and continued to breeze her way through the chase with Silva providing strong support and South Africa losing their way. They sent down 19 wides and two no-balls in total and Sri Lanka cashed in. Athapaththu and de Silva combined boundary hitting with exceptional strike rotation and reached the target with five-and-half-overs – 33 balls – to spare to share the trophy

Wolvaardt’s second successive ton in vain

Earlier, South Africa would have been confident of claiming it after Wolvaardt scored her fastest – off 100 balls – and second successive hundred in the series against Sri Lanka. In the absence of Tazmin Brits – who underwent surgery on a meniscus tear in her left knee today – Wolvaardt has embraced the responsibility of both anchoring and accelerating the innings. She was the dominant partner in the opening partnership of 116 with Lara Goodall and scored 83 off 74 balls, while Goodall, playing in her 50th ODI, contributed 31 off 55.

South Africa’s innings stuttered through the middle period as the Sri Lankan spinners squeezed them. Goodall, Tucker and Luus were dismissed for eight runs in the space of 18 balls, but recovered thanks to their most reliable allrounder Marizanne Kapp. She and Wolvaardt shared a run-a-ball partnership of 63, and Kapp was at the other end when Wolvaardt reached her hundred before she was run-out at the end of the 35th over. South Africa were 187 for 4 at the time and the arrival of de Klerk brought an increased intensity.

De Klerk and Wolvaardt put on 92 in 80 balls for the sixth wicket, with de Klerk just establishing herself as a finisher, it was Wolvaardt who was aggressive in the stand. She hit her next 84 runs in 47 balls and South Africa scored 114 runs in their last 15 overs, at 7.6 runs an over, which seemed to set them up well until Athapaththu had the final say.