The Proteas Women will take on Sri Lanka and India in an ODI Tri-Series from 27 April to 11 May in Colombo ahead of the Women’s ODI World Cup in India.

All matches will be held at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, with the three teams playing each other twice before the top two sides meet in the final.

This tour will also mark South Africa’s first trip to Sri Lanka since the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup Qualifiers where they lost by one wicket to India in the final.

Head coach Mandla Mashimbyi stressed the significance of playing in the subcontinent ahead of the global showpiece.

“When you look at India and Sri Lanka in their own conditions, you would rather play those teams there so you can understand what is needed for you to succeed in those types of conditions.

“Hopefully we can take the learnings out of these tours straight into the World Cup in October and be a lot better at executing the plans and executing from a skill point of view as well.

“It’s going to be key for us to really find the right combinations going into the World Cup after that. This tour will give us an opportunity to check which combinations work best for those conditions.

“Also, we want to give opportunities to players who I haven’t seen much of. It’s a good tour to give those players opportunities. At the same time, we still want to win, so it’s important to find that balance between exposure and ensuring we have a team that will fight till the end.”

The Proteas Women head into the series looking to improve on recent ODI results against Sri Lanka and India. South Africa shared a series against Sri Lanka in April last year, while India dominated their last bilateral series with a 3-0 win in Bangalore.

Women’s ODI Tri-Series fixtures
Sunday, 27 April: Sri Lanka vs India
Tuesday, 29 April: India vs South Africa
Thursday, 1 May: Sri Lanka vs South Africa
Sunday, 4 May: Sri Lanka vs India
Tuesday, 6 May: South Africa vs India
Thursday, 8 May: Sri Lanka vs South Africa
Sunday, 11 May: Final