Proteas stalwart Mignon du Preez scored her first ODI half-century in 11 innings as the Proteas Women strode to a 3-0 ODI series win over the Sri Lanka Women at Potchefstroom on Sunday.
Du Preez went past 3,000 ODI runs early in her innings as she recorded her 14th ODI half-century to power the Proteas Women to victory.
The Sri Lanka Women won the toss and took the initiative to bat first in the hope of reversing their fortunes against a Proteas side who had scored 225-7 and 268-7 in the first two ODIs of the series, both times batting first.
Stand-in Proteas skipper Sune Luus devastated the Sri Lanka middle order, knocking over batters four through seven to pick up 4-30 from her eight overs as the visitors battled to get to grips with a rampant Proteas attack.
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Shabnim Ismail proved virtually unplayable in returning the phenomenal figures of 7-4-8-1 (econ 1.14), but the entire attack proved a class above Sri Lanka. Nadine de Klerk (2-30, econ 3.00) Masabata Klaas (1-13, econ 2.05) and Marizanne Kapp (1-20, econ 3.33) all returned superb figures as Sri Lanka limped along to 139 all out off 44.2 overs.
Anushka Sanjeewani (28) and Harshitha Madavi (22) were the only batters who made it into the 20s, while Faye Tunnicliffe held three catches behind the stumps to make it eight catches in her first three ODIs.
Lara Goodall (25) and Du Preez added 50 for the Proteas’ third wicket, before Du Preez (61 not out off 87 balls, 7×4) and De Klerk (20 off 44 balls, 2×4) saw their side comfortably past the victory target with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 58.
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Inoka Ranaweera proved equal to the standards of the opposition bowlers by picking up 3-20 (econ 2.30) with her left-arm spin (as well as having a hand in a run-out), but with so few runs to play with, the Proteas were able to work their way through to victory without too much stress.
The Proteas reached 141-4 off 38.2 overs to claim a 3-0 series victory (to add to their 3-0 triumph in the recent T20I series) to aid their quest to rise up the ICC team rankings.
Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
