Sri Lanka Cricket have named a 17-member squad for their upcoming white-ball assignments in South Africa. The squad will be captained by their regular skipper and ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year, Chamari Athapaththu, and the series will kick off with the T20I leg on 27 March in Benoni.
The two sides will first contest in a three-match T20I series, followed by as many ODIs, that will also form a part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 cycle. South Africa are currently No.2 on IWC Standings with 20 points from 15 games, behind table-toppers Australia, while Sri Lanka are at No.8 with 11 points from 15 games.
This will be the first time Sri Lanka’s women are touring South Africa for a bilateral series since 2019. It is also the first bilateral exchange between the two sides since 2019.
During Sri Lanka’s previous visit to South Africa, they played an equal number of T20Is and ODIs, both of which the hosts won with a clean sweep.
With the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Bangladesh fast approaching, this white-ball clash would be crucial to both teams’ preparations.
The last time the two sides met in a white-ball clash was at last year’s T20 World Cup in Cape Town which Sri Lanka won in a closely-fought match by three runs.
Athapaththu starred with a 50-ball 68 to claim the Player of the Match award while Inoka Ranaweera shone with the ball with returns of 3/18.
Sri Lanka squad for the white-ball tour of South Africa: Chamari Athapaththu (c), Vishmi Gunaratne, Nilakshi de Silva, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kavisha Dilhari, Hasini Perera, Anushka Sanjeewani, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoka Ranaweera, Achini Kulasuriya, Hansima Karunaratne, Imesha Dulani, Kawya Kavindi, Inoshi Fernando, Sugandika Kumari, Prasadini Weerakkody
