South Africa Women will take on India Women in the 1st match of the South Africa-India-West Indies tri-series at Buffalo Park in East London. The Women’s T20 World Cup will be played in South Africa only, and it will be an important series for the practice of all these three teams.
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Sune Luus will be leading the South African team, and they are very strong in their home conditions. The all-rounders are the biggest strength of this side, and Marizanne Kapp will lead that department. Shabnim Ismail is the leading pacer of South Africa, and she has got some able support in Ayabonga Khaka and Msabata Klass.
The Indian Women’s cricket team recently played a great series against Australia at home, and they will aim for a series win here. Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur will again be the lead players of the side, but the way Richa Ghosh batted in the last series will give the Indian side a lot of confidence in the lower-order.
Buffalo Park East London pitch report
The Buffalo Park in East London has so far hosted just a single Women’s T20I, and it was between India and South Africa only in 2018. India won that match by 9 wickets, where Mithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana scored their respective half-centuries while chasing a target of 143 runs.
A lot of domestic Men’s T20s have been played here, where the average 1st innings score has been 145 runs which suggest that batting has not been that easy here. The pacers do get some help from the surface in the initial overs, and the spinners come into play in the 2nd innings.
It has been seen that batting becomes easier in the 2nd innings, and once set, the batters can score big as well on this ground. Looking at the records of the stadium, chasing after winning the toss will be a better idea for both teams in this match.
