Cape Town - South Africa women's captain, Dané van Niekerk took three wickets and scored an unbeaten 71 runs to lead her side to an emphatic, seven-wicket victory in the opening fixture of their three-match series against Sri Lanka at Newlands on Friday.
The skipper's spell of 3/12 in four overs along with Masabata Klaas' 2/22 helped restrict the opposition to 90/8 at the end of their innings after Chamari Attapaththu won the toss and elected to bat first.
Hasini Perera and Imalka Mendis were the only pair who reached double figures, top scoring with 27 and 25 runs respectively.
Van Niekerk took the spotlight again in South Africa's reply, making even more of a case for herself as an opening batter.
She smashed 13 fours in her 55-ball knock as the hosts cantered to victory with 34 balls to spare.
The second match will take place at the Bidvest Wanderers this Sunday, February 3.
Play starts at 09:45 with the build-up on SuperSport 2 starting at 09:30.
Scores in brief:
Sri Lanka 90 for 8 in 20 overs (Perera 27, Van Niekerk 3/12)
South Africa 94 for 3 in 14.2 overs (Van Niekerk 71*, De Silva 1/14)
South Africa won by 7 wickets
Toss: Sri Lanka
Fixtures v Sri Lanka:
Sunday, February 3, 2nd T20 - Wanderers
Wednesday, February 6, 3rd T20 - Centurion
Monday, February 11, 1st ODI - Senwes Park
Thursday, February 14, 2nd ODI - Senwes Park
Sunday, February 17, 3rd ODI - Senwes Park