South Africa survived a nerve-jangling final over to beat Sri Lanka by one run at the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup.
Even with victory in Potchefstroom, South Africa were unable to usurp India or Australia on net run rate, with only Bangladesh now able to snatch one of the qualification places from Group 1.
A composed 43 from Kayla Reyneke gave South Africa the base to build a competitive score after they had opted to bat first, with Madison Landsman (21 from 12) and Jenna Evans (22 from 15) giving a bit of impetus to the innings.
Some tidy Sri Lankan bowling kept things under control, however, and a target of 135 had both teams well in the game at the interval.
The Lankans appeared to get marooned in the chase, with the scoring rate extremely slow as Miane Smit and Kayla Reyneke proved tough to get away, taking 1-13 and 2-16 from their respective four overs.
Nethmi Senarathna’s 36 had set a platform, and the acceleration came from Dewmi Vihanga Wijerathne (37 from 23) and Manudi Nanayakkara (17 from nine).
Sri Lanka required 12 off the final over to win the game, which went down to seven from the last three deliveries.
But a run out was followed by a stumping to leave new batter Rashmi Nethranjali requiring a six to win the game, and although she found the boundary, it fell short of clearing the rope, prompting jubilant celebrations from the tournament hosts.
