South African women thrashed a hapless Sri Lankan line up by 8 wickets to strengthen their chances of a semi final berth at Taunton today(12).

Taking first lease of the wicket, the Lankan ladies lost two quick wickets before Chamari Polgampala steadied the ship with a useful 25 runs. Unfortunately that’s as good as it got for the Lankans, as they lost their last eight wickets for the addition of just 53 runs.

Dilani Manodara(25) provided some resistance late in the innings to help Sri Lanka go pass the 100 run mark but it was another poor performance with the bat for the Sri Lankans as they were bowled out with almost ten overs to spare.

Shabnim Ismail picked up three wickets for South Africa but it was their skipper Dane Van Niekerk who put up a brilliant display of leg spin bowling to trouble the Sri Lankan middle order. She ended up with top figures of 4/24 while it was also her third four wicket haul in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.

The South African women made light work of their run chase of 102, as they reached the target in the 24th over of their innings. Laura Wolvaardt guided the run chase with an unbeaten 48* while Mignon Du Preez chipped in with an unbeaten 38*.

Sripali Weerakkody and Inoka Ranaweera were the only wicket takers for Sri Lanka as they suffered their sixth loss in as many games. They will play their final group stage game on Saturday against Pakistan who occupy the last position on the table.