Proteas Women's warm-up match abandoned due to rain in Colombo

Proteas Women lost vital time in the park on Thursday as their first ICC Women’s World Cup warm-up match against Bangladesh Women was abandoned due to rain.

The 2025 ICC Women’s World Cup warm-up matches got underway on Thursday, ahead of the tournament opener between India Women and Sri Lanka Women in Guwahati on 30 September.

With the showpiece event set to get underway in less than a week, South Africa needed to get as much time as possible out in the middle, honing their skills and executing their game plans.

However, their warm-up match against Bangladesh was cut short after only nine overs of play before the heavens opened, leaving South Africa on 45/3 in Colombo.

The side found themselves in hot waters very early in the match, with opening batter and captain Laura Wolvaardt bowled out by seamer Marufa Akter with the very first ball of the match.

Annerie Dercksen, having been promoted to number three in the batting order, followed soon after, as she too was bowled out by Akter to leave South Africa in all sorts of trouble with the score on 17/2, 15 balls into the match.

The in-form pair of Marizanne Kapp and Tazmin Brits steadied the ship for the next 6 or so overs before Kapp was bowled out by left-arm spinner Nahida Akter on 21 off 22 deliveries, a knock which saw the right-handed batter hit four boundaries.

Brits was unbeaten on 19 runs off 21 deliveries, with three boundaries to her name as the game was abandoned after nine overs.

Heading into the warm-up match, South Africa would have looked to improve a number of aspects of their game, having suffered a heavy loss against Pakistan in the third One-Day match in Lahore earlier this week.

The side lost wickets in clusters in that match and would have looked to rectify that aspect of their game in the warm-up match, building more confidence heading into the World Cup.

Despite winning the series 2-1 against Pakistan Women, the Proteas Women had areas of concern in their game, especially the fielding, having dropped five catches in the second ODI in Lahore.

Though Brits smashed two centuries, while Kapp and Wolvaardt scored a century each in the Pakistan series, there were a number of batters, including Anneke Bosch and Dercksen, who did not have enough time in the middle.

The warm-up match would have allowed those batters to spend time in the middle, polish their skills and build confidence for the World Cup.

South Africa will be back in action on Sunday, where they will take on Pakistan Women in their second and last warm-up match before their World Cup campaign gets underway against England Women on 03 October.