The 1st match of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 is scheduled to play between South Africa Women and Sri Lanka Women on Friday, 10th February 2023 at Newlands, Cape Town.

South Africa Women are the strongest contenders of the title of World Cup and there are many reasons behind this. They had recently won a tri-series that was played at their home conditions and also beat a strong team like India. South Africa was also good in the 2020 World Cup but they were beaten by Australia in the semi-finals. South Africa had played a lot of cricket on the home grounds and surely they are going to give a tough time to each and every team in this tournament.

Sune Luus is the leader of the South African team in this big event of cricket. The batting and bowling squads of this team are very strong at least on paper. They also made a few changes to this tournament. Marizanne Kapp and Laura Wolvaardt are the two best top-order batters while Shabnim Ismail and Chloe Tryon are known as hard hitters, especially in the middle overs. Annerie Dercksen, Anneke Bosch, and Nadine de Klarke are all-rounders in the squad of South Africa. Ayabonga Khaka and Masabata Klaas are the best bowlers of the new balls and Nonkululeko Mlaba is a quality spin bowler.

Sri Lanka Women were not good in the previous edition of the T20 World and won just one out of four matches. Now they will be hoping to perform well and get some better results. Chamari Athapaththu is the new captan of Sri Lanka. She is a good batter and we are sure that she will perform well in the conditions of South Africa. She will be handling the batting order with Harshitha Samarawickrama. Harshitha Samarawickrama performed well in the recent play Asia Cup.

The middle batting order of Sri Lanka is also very strong and experienced. Anushka Sanjeewani will be handling the middle batting order with Oshadi Ranasinghe and Kavisha Dilhari. Hasini Perera is a main player of the Sri Lankan team but she is not available for some matches of this tournament due to injury. The bowling unit of Sri Lanka is also strong. Achini Kulasuriya, Tharika Sewwandi, and Ama Kanchana are the leading bowlers of this team with Inoka Ranaweera and Sugandika Kumari.

According to match prediction, South Africa Women are the favorite team to win this match. There are many factors that make South Africa Women a favorite team to win this match.

• South Africa Women have a decent record while playing in home conditions
• South Africa Women are very rich in the batting order
• The bowling unit of South Africa Women is also strong
• Sri Lanka will play this match with the full force
• South Africa had won the previous five matches played against Sri Lanka women

The performance of South Africa Women had been good in this tournament and they are a well-balanced team. They are also the unbeaten team in this tournament, so the winning chances of today’s match for South Africa Women have been increased. The equation of winning the chances of both teams for today’s match is mentioned as under.

South Africa Women have a 60% chance to win this match
Sri Lanka Women have a 40% chance to win this match

The toss is playing an important role in the decision of all matches of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023. According to toss prediction, the team who will win the toss may choose to bat first.

The 1st Match of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 will be played at Newlands, Cape Town. The wicket provides good pace and bounces to the fast bowlers and makes it difficult for the batsmen to score runs easily. The ball generally movies in the air which can cause problems for the batsmen. The seam bowlers had produced good results on this pitch. The spin bowlers are expected to find it difficult to get any significant turn from the wicket. This pitch is known to be one of the best wickets in South Africa and is expected to provide an exciting contest between bat and ball. The fast bowlers are expected to make the most of the conditions and the batsmen can expect a tough challenge while batting.

The weather forecast in Cape Town is predicting some chances of rain on the match day but hopefully, it should clear up by the time the match gets started. The average temperature for the city ranges from 19°C to 25°C and can be sunny and warm during the day. There are some chances of light rain in the evening and the average humidity is around 60% with an average wind speed is around 10 km per hour. Please note that the weather in Cape Town can change rapidly and you should check the latest weather forecast right before the start of this cricket match. It will help you to make the right decision.

Captain: M Kapp
Vice-Captain: C Atapattu
A Sanjeewani, H Smarwickrama, T Brits, L Wolvaardt, O Ranasinghe, I Ranaweera, S Kumari, S Ismail, M Klaas

• Date: Friday, 10th February 2023
• Time: 05:00 PM GMT / 07:00 PM LOCA / 10:30 PM IST

• Stadium: Newlands
• Location: Cape Town, South Africa
• Capacity: 25,000
• Known as: Sahara Park; Newlands; Western Province Cricket Club; Newlands ‘A’
• Ends: Wynberg End, Kelvin Grove End
• Time Zone: UTC +02:00
• Home to: Western Province
• Floodlights: Yes

• Total matches: 26
• Matches won batting first: 8
• Matches won bowling first: 16
• Average 1st Inns scores: 151
• Average 2nd Inns scores: 142
• Highest total recorded: 193/5 (20 Ov) by AUS vs RSA
• Lowest total recorded: 96/10 (15.3 Ov) by RSA vs AUS
• The highest score chased: 192/1 (17.4 Ov) by ENG vs RSA
• The lowest score defended: 119/3 (20 Ov) by RSAW vs WIW

Chamari Athapaththu(c), Nilakshi de Silva, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Harshitha Madavi, Kavisha Dilhari, Inoka Ranaweera, Ama Kanchana, Anushka Sanjeewani(w), Sugandika Kumari, Achini Kulasuriya, Malsha Shehani, Tharika Sewwandi, Sathya Sandeepani, Vishmi Gunaratne, Kaushani Nuthyangana.