SA u19 Women’s Stunning World Cup Adventure Ends
NWU Oval, Potchefstroom, 24th January 2023
South Africa bowed out of the ICC u19 Women’s World Cup with a nail-biting 1 run win over Sri Lanka in Potchefstroom on Tuesday. They will either end 3rd or 4th in Group 1, equal on points with India, Australia and Bangladesh.
“It was a really amazing tournament to be part of, and really honoured to be a part of it”, the words of South Africa’s u19 Women’s Captain Oluhle Siyo. The hosts are part of history, and so much more than that. The unity in the team, the incredible spirit with which they approached every match, those are the memories to treasure for this squad of 2023.
Player of the Match, Western Province all-rounder Kayla Reyneke, summed it up beautifully: “Learnings? Be present, be grateful for the stuff that’s around you, play for your team-mates, and for this badge (pointing to the Protea on her shirt)”
Story of the Day
South Africa’s only chance of getting to the semi-finals was to win the toss and bat, which is what Oluhle did. Targeting 200 on a good, but slow surface, it was never going to be easy. The valiant batting effort by SA’s finest young women cricketers was though not enough to challenge Australia’s large Net Run Rate advantage.
Losing wickets steadily, it was left to Kayla (43 off 49 balls, 2×4) to hold the innings together. SA would not have been happy with the total of 134/7, but the runs were on the board. The question was whether this could be defended.
In the absence of Jemma Botha, it was Miane Smit who opened the bowling, with an excellent 3 overs for only 3 runs. Sri Lanka proceeded slowly but surely towards the target. Ultimately it was off-spinner Kayla’s variable pace, loop and dip that proved the difference, taking 2 vital wickets and conceding only 16 runs in her 4 overs.
Faced with 11 to win in Miane’s final over, the Sri Lankans ended just one run short. A fourth successive victory for SA was assured, with the opening-day loss to India the only defeat of an outstanding campaign.
Scorecard
WP’s Finest
Jemma and Kayla played key roles in SA’s excellent performances in the tournament, with Kayla being the Player of the Match in 2 of the 5 games SA played.
At the time of writing, Kayla is the 13th-highest run scorer in the tournament with 113 runs at an average of 22.6. This is the second-highest South African, after Simone Lourens’s 141. She also took the most wickets for SA, a tally of 8, placing her at number 6 on the tournament list to date, at an average of 13.5 runs/wicket.
Jemma’s 4 wickets cost only 12.5 runs each, at an outstanding economy rate of only 4.25 runs/over. What makes this even more special is that most of Jemma’s overs were bowled in the PowerPlay, when fielding restrictions are in place.
Western Province Cricket is exceptionally proud of the achievements of our two young women, and wishes them much success as they continue in their cricketing journey.