The SA team looked set to put up a fight in the last few of overs before bad light disrupted play.
Despite putting up a late fight, the Proteas women were shut out of this weekend’s final after falling to India in their third straight defeat of the women’s ODI tri-series in Colombo on Wednesday.
India were ruthless with both bat and ball, earning a 23-run victory after the momentum built by the Proteas middle order was disrupted by a delay to due bad light at the death.
Set a hefty target of 338 runs to win, most of the Proteas’ batters got off to good starts, but only all-rounders Annerie Dercksen and Chloe Tryon were able to really kick on.
Dercksen made 81 runs off 80 deliveries before she was removed by seam bowler Amanjot Kahur (who took 3/59) in the 46th over.
Down the order, captain Tryon (standing in for regular skipper Laura Wolvaardt, who missed the match due to illness) looked eager to pull off a miraculous victory.
Tryon, who bashed 67 off 43, hit 23 runs off eight balls before the match was delayed due to bad light with two overs remaining.
Returning to the field, Tryon looked to have the wind removed from her sails, and the Proteas were ultimately restricted to 314/7.
India innings
Earlier, after being sent in to bat, India found themselves in a spot of trouble at 50/3 after seven overs of their innings.
However, the middle-order pairing of Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma shared 122 runs for the fifth wicket to lead an impressive recovery.
Rodrigues hit 123 runs off 101 deliveries – her second career ODI century – while Sharma contributed 93 off 84, as they put their team in the driving seat with India reaching 337/9 in their 50 overs.
Three members of the Proteas bowling attack took two wickets each – seamers Masabata Klaas (2/51) and Nadine de Klerk (2/54) and spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba (2/71) – but the SA team struggled to contain their opposition.
South Africa, unable to pick up any points in three tri-series games thus far, will face hosts Sri Lanka in Colombo tomorrow (6.30am start) in a dead rubber clash in their last match of the two-week tournament.
The tri-series final will be contested between Sri Lanka and India on Sunday.
