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WWC 2025: Wolvaardt, Brits fifties put South Africa closer to semi-final berth
South Africa took a big step towards a World Cup semi-final berth by chasing successfully for the fourth time in the tournament, this time in a rain-reduced encounter in Colombo. They played what was essentially a T20 against Sri Lanka, whose innings was paused for five-and-a-quarter hours, and whose semi-final hopes now hang by a thread. Sri Lanka have two points from two washouts and are winless. For any chance of a final-four spot, they must win their last two games and hope other results go their way.
After choosing to bat first, Sri Lanka faced 12 overs before the rain delay and scored 46 for 2. They returned to hit 59 runs in eight overs, losing five wickets in the process. South Africa’s target was adjusted up from Sri Lanka’s final score of 105 for 7 to acknowledge the hosts did not know they would only bat 20 overs for 60% of their innings.
Similarly South Africa’s bowling plans were scuppered by the revised playing conditions. Both senior seamers – Marizanne Kapp and Masabata Klass – were bowled out in the first 12 overs as the reduction only allowed for bowlers to deliver a maximum of four overs each. They had also included two offspinners – Sune Luus, returning from a hip flexor strain, and Nondumiso Shangase – but neither ended up bowling.
Instead, it was left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba, dealing with a wet ball, who took 3 for 30 and limited Sri Lanka after the resumption. Unlike in their previous two matches against India and Bangladesh, South Africa were barely troubled in the chase. Laura Wolvaadt scored a second half-century at this event and Tazmin Britts supported her with a fifty of her own as South Africa cruised to a win with 5.1 overs to spare. Their net run-rate, though, remains negative after their opening defeat to England.
South Africa may not have thought it would be that easy, when hours earlier, Sri Lanka – fresh from topping 250 against New Zealand – decided to go again by batting first in home conditions. But South Africa had an ace, Klaas, who threatened from the get-go when she beat Vishmi Gunaratne first with an outswinger and then an inswinger. In the next over, Gunaratne was completing a single off Kapp when a throw came into the non-striker’s end and struck her on the inside of her left knee. Going down in pain, she received treatment on-field and was stretchered off later. No serious damage was done as Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) confirmed she would bat again later in the innings.
Athapaththu was on three of 12 balls at the time and only got her next runs six deliveries later when she hit Kapp inside-out over point for four. Just as she found her touch, South Africa also discovered theirs. Klaas bowled Hasini Perera, who played down the wrong line, with a beauty that shaped away. Then Kapp found Harshita Samarawickrama’s edge but the chance fell short of Chloe Tryon at slip. Klaas then snared the big fish when Athapaththu was given out lbw as she lunged forward to an inswinger. Athpaththu thought the impact was outside the line and reviewed but stayed out on umpires call. Sri Lanka were 37 for 2 after 10 overs.
Only two more overs were possible before the drizzle became too heavy and the players were taken off the field. They remained off for five hours and 14 minutes, during which time it rained heavily, eased off and eventually Sri Lanka’s excellent groundstaff got conditions ready for a restart.
Mlaba restarted proceedings and was dispatched for six first ball by Kavisha Dilhari, in an over that cost 10. Sri Lanka’s intent was clear when, in the next over, Samarawickrama tried to slog Nadine de Klerk but got a leading edge to mid-off, where Klaas could not hold on. De Klerk was rewarded later in the over when Dilhari handed a catch to Wolvaardt at cover.
It became two in two for Sri Lanka as Mlaba removed Samarawickrama at the start of her next over, with Wolvaardt doing the catching again. That brought Gunaratne back to the crease and she finished the over by hitting Mlaba down the ground for four. Gunaratne was in excellent touch and hit Chloe Tryon through point, and Mlaba for back-to-back fours to keep pressure on South Africa.
Nilakshika de Silva took on de Klerk but South Africa pulled things back in the last two overs. De Klerk’s fourth over cost just three runs and Mlaba picked up two wickets and conceded four to take her to second on the tournament wicket-takers’ list. De Silva, trying to get as many as possible, picked out deep midwicket and Gunaratne edged behind to give 18-year old wicketkeeper Karabo Meso her first World Cup catch.
Wolvaardt and Brits, who had not had the best tournament as an opening pair thus far, then took complete control. They posted their highest opening stand of this World Cup and dealt well with the early swing Malki Madara generated. Wolvaardt kept one that was destined for the stumps out and then advanced down the track to hit her over mid-on.
It took Brits, coming off back to back ducks, some time before she brought out a big shot. But when she did, it was huge. Coming down the track, she sent Inoka Ranaweera back over her head for six. South Africa’s fifty came up in the eighth over as Brits was nearly run out at the non-striker’s end with Wolvaardt pushing for two. Wolvaardt went on to give Brits the best view in the house as she creamed a cover drive off Athapaththu and asserted her authority on the game.
Brits survived an lbw review on 20 when Dilhari tossed one up. Dilhari’s night got worse from there when South Africa took 18 runs off her third over including four fours. Wolvaardt reached fifty off the second one, when she hit Dilhari leg-side, then Brits scored two of her own to enter the 40s. She finished things off quickly and got to fifty when she ended the game with a six over midwicket.
Brief scores:
South Africa Women 121 for 0 in 14.5 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 60*, Tazmin Brits 55*) beat Sri Lanka Women 105 for 7 in 20 overs (Vishmi Gunaratne 34, Chamari Athapaththu 11, Harshitha Samarawickrema 13, Kavishsha Dihari 14, Nilakshika Silva 18; Nonkululeko Mlaba 3-30, Masabata Klaas 2-18) by ten wickets (DLS method)
20-overs-a-side
[Cricinfo]
Spain has started evacuating passengers from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship anchored near Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
Health Minister Mónica García said the operation was “proceeding normally” and that all passengers on board the MS Hondius were still asymptomatic.
They will be divided into groups by nationality and ferried to the coast in small boats. Charter planes will be on the tarmac at the local airport, ready to repatriate them to their home countries.
Fourteen Spanish nationals will be the first to disembark, then those flown out by the Netherlands, including Dutch, Greek and German passengers, and part of the crew.
Other flights are poised to leave after that, including to the UK and US. The last evacuation flight is expected to leave on Monday to Australia.
With a long camera lens, passengers could be seen wandering around on the deck of the ship, or at the windows, all in white medical face masks, as the first evacuation took place.
Several sat socially distanced on the small evacuation boat, filming and taking photos as they approached land, where they were met by officials in white protective suits.
The Hondius pulled into the port of Granadilla before dawn on Sunday, a month after the first passenger died on board.
The sun then rose to reveal it anchored offshore, with military police boats on patrol and a major operation unfolding on land to help more than 100 passengers and crew disembark.
At about 07:00 (06:00 GMT) on Sunday, medical teams went on board to check everyone for signs of the virus.
There have been meticulous preparations to receive the ship, which won’t be permitted to reach shore: a security perimeter of one nautical mile was enforced around it as it approached the island.
Dozens of intensive care specialists are on stand-by at the Candelaria hospital in Tenerife in case anyone from the Hondius becomes seriously ill during the transfer. A strict isolation facility has one bed fully equipped to deal with infectious diseases, complete with testing kit and a ventilator.
“We are absolutely ready,” chief intensive care doctor Mar Martin told me on the unit, where large numbers of protective suits, masks and gloves are already piled up for staff.
“We’ve never seen [hantavirus] before – but it’s a virus, with some complications, just like we manage every day. We are fully trained for that.”
The complex operation to prevent the rare Andes strain of this virus spreading is described by Spain’s health minister as “unprecedented”.
On Saturday, she stressed that the risk of contagion for the general population was low. “We believe that alarmism, misinformation and confusion are contrary to the basic principles of preserving public health.”
Security measures in the port, an industrial facility in the south of Tenerife, increased notably on Saturday. Spain’s military police and disaster response teams have both set up large reception tents and access to the waterfront is restricted.
Spanish nationals leaving the ship will be flown to Madrid, where they face a mandatory quarantine in the Gomez Ulla military hospital. Complete isolation would be gruelling – the virus has an incubation period of up to nine weeks – and it is not clear how long people in Spain or elsewhere will be quarantined.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, now in Tenerife to oversee the disembarking, has praised the authorities for their “solid and effective response” to this outbreak.
It has been linked to a landfill site in the southernmost tip of Argentina, popular with birdwatchers. The virus is carried there by rodents, and it’s rare for it to pass between people, but three cruise passengers have died.
The WHO boss has urged nervous Spaniards to trust those in charge of the evacuation.
“Your concern is legitimate, because of the experience of Covid: that trauma is still in our minds,” he acknowledged. But he added that the risk of wider contagion now was low “because of how the virus works, and because of how the Spanish government has prepared to avoid any problem”.
There was some anger here when people learned the Hondius was being diverted to their island.
On Friday, a group of port workers gathered outside the local parliament in noisy protest, concerned that safety measures were not strong enough.
Then very late last night, all the carefully laid plans were briefly thrown into chaos when the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said he would refuse to permit the ship into port as the disembarkation could not be done in a day. The central government in Madrid had to intervene.
Clavijo then claimed on TV that a rat carrying the hantavirus might “get off the ship in the middle of the night and endanger the people of the Canary Islands”. The health secretary had to come out and insist that such a scenario was “not a risk”.
In general, people on the island seem reassured that the risk is low.
“The virus is dangerous, of course. But they say you need to have very close contact to get it,” a woman named Jennifer told me, out walking with her child in Tenerife’s capital Santa Cruz.
“If we’re careful, we hope it’s not too serious.”
Not everyone will disembark in Tenerife from the Hondius: some 30 crew members will stay on board to take the cruise ship back to the Netherlands. But for most, there is at last an end in sight to weeks of fear and uncertainty at sea.
Now come the long weeks of quarantine.
[BBC]
The Landslide Early Warning Center of the Building Research Organisation [NBRO| has issued Landslide Early Warnings to the Districts of Badulla and Moneragala valid upto 2130 hrs today [10th May 2026]
Accordingly,
Level I [Yellow] landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Passara in the Badulla district and Badalkumbura and Wellawaya in the Monaragala District.
Spain starts evacuating virus-hit cruise ship in Tenerife
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