Weather in focus as Sri Lanka meet steely South Africa

Colombo, Oct 16 (PTI) Sri Lanka and South Africa would hope the wet spell in Colombo clears out as they face each other in a crucial Women's ODI World Cup contest here on Friday.

The last two games at the R Premadasa Stadium have been washed out and there is forecast of rain and thunderstorms on Friday as well.

If the game does happen, Sri Lanka would like to keep their semifinals hopes alive by getting their first win of the tournament. They have collected a point each from the two rained out games they were involved in and sit in the penultimate spot on the points table after four outings.

They put a solid batting performance against New Zealand here on Wednesday that included a half-century by skipper Chamari Athapaththu and the fastest fifty of the ongoing edition by Nilakshika Silva before the weather played spoilsport.

Sri Lanka would need to build on that effort against South Africa, a unit that closed out two close games against India and Bangladesh.

Following the 10-wicket drubbing to England in their tournament opener, South Africa have turned it around in dramatic fashion by nailing the chase against New Zealand, hosts India and subsequently Bangladesh.

In a spot of bother against india and Bangladesh, South Africa showed commendable fight and courage to get over the line. The stand out player in both those chases was Nadine de Klerk, who displayed remarkable calm under extreme pressure to get the job done.

However, South Africa are not sitting on their success and are expecting runs from the top-order led by captain Laura Wolvaardt.

"Yeah, not ideal (talking about lack of contributions from top-order). But at least we're just getting over the line. I think there've been series and games in the past where we would just be on the losing side of these games.

"So I think the fact that we're just winning and that lower order is really scoring a lot of runs is good to know. So yeah, I'm sure there will be a game where our top order fires. And we've just got to keep believing that and have confidence," said Laura.

Squads: Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu (captain), Hasini Perera, Vishmi Gunaratne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani, Imesha Dulani, Dewmi Vihanga, Piumi Wathsala, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Kumari, Udeshika Prabodani, Malki Madara, Achini Kulasuriya.

South Africa: Laura Wolvaardt (c), Tazmin Brits, Annerie Dercksen, Marizanne Kapp, Anneke Bosch, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Sune Luus, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nondumiso Shangase, Karabo Meso.

Match starts: 3pm IST. PTI BS APA APA