South African left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba acknowledged the challenge posed by Chamari Athapaththu ahead of their Women’s World Cup 2025 clash against Sri Lanka on Friday, October 17, at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Mlaba Acknowledges Chamari Athapaththu’s Dominance
Athapaththu, one of Sri Lanka’s most dependable batters, boasts an impressive record against South Africa — scoring 933 runs in 21 ODIs at an average of 49.10, which includes two centuries and four fifties. The Sri Lankan skipper famously smashed an unbeaten 195 last year, leading her team to a record-breaking successful run chase in Women’s ODIs.
“𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕. 𝑾𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒓𝒊 𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒂 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒕𝒓𝒊-𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔,” 𝑴𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 — 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒕𝒉𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑨𝒔 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎, 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆; 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒏.”
Mlaba Focused on Consistency and Execution
Mlaba has been in excellent form during the ongoing World Cup, emerging as one of the top wicket-takers with eight wickets in four matches at an average of 17.13 and an economy rate of 4.28. The spinner revealed that her success lies in maintaining consistency rather than making tactical changes.
“𝑵𝒐, 𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒔, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇,” 𝑴𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒂 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅.
Under the leadership of Laura Wolvaardt, South Africa currently sit third on the points table with three wins from four games, while Sri Lanka are placed seventh, having secured two wins and two no results so far in the tournament.
Also Read: Former India Spinner Defends Harshit Rana After Sanjay Manjrekar’s Criticism
