RSAW vs SLW 1st ODI Match Prediction

RSAW vs SLW Team Previews

South Africa Women

Anything less than a clean sweep would be considered a missed opportunity for the South African women in this series. They won the T20 series 3-0 and that was perhaps where the Sri Lankan women had the best chance of causing an upset.

The difference in quality between sides becomes more apparent when the length of the match increases and the chance of an upset decrease.

Dane van Niekerk scored 142 runs in the last series and will be the batter to watch out for. She is bringing some excellent form with her into the series and is a rock in the middle order of the South African side. In the past, she has been guilty of playing a bit too low down the order to have an impact but hopefully, that will not be the case here.

Lizelle Lee was dropped from the T20’s because of poor fitness standards and is going to have a point to prove in the ODI’s. She is still one of the most dangerous batters going around and has a lot left in her.

We think she could feast on the underwhelming Sri Lankan women bowling attack.

With players like Wolvaardt, Kapp, du Preez, and other capable batters as well, the South African women must find ways of testing themselves because they may not have enough of a challenge against the Sri Lankan bowlers.

Sri Lanka Women

It seems like the Sri Lankan women are always full of potential before entering a match or a series but that is never translated into actual performance. In this series, Jayangani and Siriwardene are the two players that are being talked about.

There is no doubt that they have talent and are capable of getting the big scores in but they still have to prove whether they have the temperament to be successful at this level consistently.

Jayangani got an aggressive 43 off 36 balls in the last T20 and kept Sri Lanka in the hunt during a steep chase. There was a time in that match where it looked like the Sri Lankan women would be able to pull off a victory when both Jayangani and Siriwardene were batting together.

The Sri Lanka batting does not have enough talent to back up these two though. Perera, Madavi, and Mendis have been disappointing and we don’t think they have shown any signs of turning it around.

It will be very difficult for the Sri Lankan to compete against the South African women if they are unable to find some runs quick. Their current mode of attack seems to be to go hard at the top and try to maximize the powerplay overs but with a long tail, we think it may be actually better for them to take their time up front.

The bowling for the Sri Lankan side has also not been up to mark. It looks likely that Ranweera and Ranasinghe will be the two bowlers to lead the attack against the South Africans in the ODI’s as well. There is no pace in the Sri Lankan bowling lineup and it will be a wave of one spinner after the other.

Sri Lanka depends on the batters making the mistakes to pick up the wickets rather than inducing them. In the fifty over format that may be more difficult since the batters have enough time to wait out the bowlers.