Sri Lanka and Athapaththu finish 'happy' and 'smiling', South Africa have 'lots of learnings'

Chamari Athapaththu had not got to fifty in her last 11 T20 innings. She had not even reached double figures in her last five. So when she walked out to bat with Sri Lanka chasing 156 to win a series against South Africa for the first time ever and then saw her opening partner and match-winner from the previous game Vishmi Gunaratne dismissed for 1, you could say she was under some serious pressure. And that is just the way she likes it.

"I love the pressure. Without pressure I can't perform," Athapaththu said at the post-match press conference. "And I know how to handle the pressure."

And there's no arguing with that.

Athapaththu scored 73 off 46 balls, including five sixes and shared a 97-run second wicket stand with Harshitha Samarawickrama to put Sri Lanka on track for a historic victory. But she did not take them all the way there. She was dismissed in the 13th over, with 54 runs still to get, and she had to watch a middle-order wobble before Samarawickrama hit the winning runs. Then, Athapaththu could wear what she knows looks best on her: that signature smile.

"I always smile, that's my style," she said. "Sometimes we don't play really good cricket, sometimes we lose, sometimes as a captain I don't perform but I keep smiling and focus on the next game. I just want to play my natural game. I don't want to take too much pressure on my shoulders. Just keep smiling. Keep playing."

Over the last eight months under Athapaththu's captaincy, Sri Lanka earned a series win in England, reached the final of the Asian Games in China and have now beaten T20 World Cup finalists South Africa in their own backyard. Though she remains the leader in name and by performance, Sri Lanka are starting to achieve success through some of their younger stars.

"As a captain, I am really proud of my girls. I am really happy with the youngsters, especially Vishmi and Kavisha (Dilhari) and how they batted and handled pressure in the second game," Athapaththu said. "I also enjoyed today with Harshita. She is really young as well. The youngsters have played really good cricket in the last two games."

Gunaratne, 18, was playing in her 26th T20I when she scored her first fifty in the format and batted Sri Lanka to a series-levelling win on Saturday. She had Dilhari, who is 23 with 47 caps to her name, at the other end in that chase. Samarawickrama, 25, was unbeaten on 54 when the series was won in East London on Wednesday. Athapaththu's point about the depth Sri Lanka are creating through their younger players bodes well for the future but they need to qualify to play in the next T20 World Cup.

Later this month, Sri Lanka's campaign to participate in the tournament will take place in Abu Dhabi, where they have been clubbed with Thailand, Scotland, Uganda and USA in Group A. They have to top the group to claim one of two spots available for the T20 World Cup which, on current form, seems likely. And Athapaththu is confident: "I don't have any pressure on me because the other players are playing good cricket.".

Her counterpart, Laura Wolvaardt, cannot say the same. South Africa have lost nine of their last 12 completed matches since the T20 World Cup final last year and their batting fortunes are heavily dependent on her.

Wolvaardt's century in the first T20I, her first in this format, helped South Africa post their second-highest total in T20Is and record their biggest win over Sri Lanka. But Wolvaardt missed the second game with illness and though Anneke Bosch was a handy replacement at the top of the order and scored fifty, South Africa lost 7 for 47 as the middle-order collapsed. In the end, they could only post 137 for 8.

Similarly, in the third match, South Africa lost three wickets for 46 runs in the space of 44 balls. Though Nadine de Klerk put some of their issues down to "trying a few things and testing the depth of our squad," the experienced players underperformed. Sune Luus, who scored a total of 22 runs in three innings, has not scored a half-century in her last 11 international innings across all formats and has not got past 20 in her last eight T20I knocks. Tazmin Brits only got into double figures once in the series, Chloe Tryon scored three runs in two innings and de Klerk herself is still finding her feet as a finisher.

"That is a skill that I need to nail so hopefully, I can just get better and try and figure out how I'm going to be really destructive at the back-end especially with the wickets being a bit lower and slower and with the World Cup being in Bangladesh."

She also said South Africa's approach to spin as well as their fielding needed to improve but cautioned against panicking about their preparedness for the tournament.

"I won't really say it's a concern. This was a great opportunity to give the chance to some of our younger players," she said. "But you also don't want to go to a World Cup having really struggled in the T20 format. I really hope that we can take a lot of learnings and a lot of positives from these couple of games and keep finding ways to try and win games of cricket especially in the T20 format."

For now, the focus shifts to the longer white-ball game. South Africa and Sri Lanka will play three ODIs as part of the Women's Championship, which determines qualification for the 50-over World Cup from next week. South Africa are currently second on the points table and Sri Lanka are eighth.