Proteas Under-19 Women captain Kayla Reyneke’s solo effort with the bat, scoring 47 off 26 balls, was not enough to win a T20 World Cup warm-up match against India this week.
South Africa faced India ahead of the T20 World Cup in Malaysia, which kicks off today, with the Proteas’ opening encounter tomorrow against New Zealand.
The SA squad also missed a warm-up game against Ireland because of a delayed flight, head coach Dinesha Devnarain told Independent Media Sport from Malaysia on Thursday.
Devnarain said the team did a lot of travelling within the country since their arrival.
Defending Under-19 T20 champions India beat the South Africans by six wickets via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, according to NDTV Sports.
Both teams retired wickets in the upper batting order, which could suggest the need for exposing the lower end to some game time.
South Africa won and elected to bat first, putting up 129/5 in 19.4 overs.
Simone Lourens made 27 off 27 balls and retired out, and Deirdre van Rensburg also retired on 20 from 33 deliveries.
Lourens and Van Rensburg did not manage to dissect India’s opening bowling attack, getting the Proteas to 49/1 after 10 overs. India’s three opening bowlers went for an average 4.1 runs in their innings.
Captain Reyneke then arrived at the crease and let the Indian bowling attack have it, smashing four sixes and two fours in her 26 deliveries to end on 47.
Reyneke was caught by Anandita Kishor off a Parunika Sisodia ball. Sisodia, Shabnam Shakil and Vaishnavi Sharma all took a wicket each.
Reyneke was expensive with the ball, however, going for 18 runs in her two overs. Monalisa Legodi was the only Proteas bowler to claim any wickets, with her two in 2.3 overs.
Spinner Seshnie Naidu was the most economical of the lot, going for 13 runs in her two overs.
India’s opening batters Gongadi Trisha and G Kamilini had their way with the Proteas attack, with a run rate of around 8.5 per over. Trisha and Kamilini retired.
The start of a dream for SA Women's U19 🇿🇦.
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The grand prize at the end of the journey, the glory and bragging rights that come with it 🏆🌍.
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By the sixth over, India were on 51/1, and with some help from the middle-order, reached 104/4 at 13.1 overs. Officials called the match at 13.1 overs, with India ahead on runs.
“It went well actually. We did not get the result, but the team are heading in the right direction,” Devnarain said.
They have until Saturday to put the finishing touches on their game before their Group C clash against New Zealand at the Borneo Cricket Ground in Sarawak. | Independent Media Sport