The Proteas Women’s captain, Laura Wolvaardt, made a fine return to form on Wednesday night as they beat Sri Lanka by 79-runs in the first T20 International played at Willowmoore Park in Benoni.

The South African captain scored a maiden ton in the format with 102-runs as they posted 198/5 in their allotted 20-overs, while Marizanne Kapp, scored 60.

In reply the visitors from the subcontinent were bowled out for 119-runs in 18.2 overs with the former Free State allrounder, Annerie Dercksen, taking 2/15 in 3.2 overs.

Wolvaardt had a tough tour of Australia recently where she struggled with the bat during the One-Day Internationals and once-off Test in particular.

On Wednesday night she bounced back with the willow in fine-style and reaffirmed that there is no doubt that she is South Africa’s best batter by a long shot.

Wolvaardt said she is delighted with her first century in the format, and it is something she never thought would happen.

“It was pretty cool, and it's not something that I thought that I could achieve one day,” said the South African skipper.

“Especially a couple of years ago when I wasn't really a regular T20 player. So, I'm very happy with that, and it was a really special day.”

The 24-year-old added that raising the bar with the bat is something that they had been working towards, and this past match was the perfect opportunity to do just that.

“It was definitely something that we spoke about in our pre-series meetings, it was about putting up higher scores with the bat.

“We've consistently been scoring in the 150's, but we want to push that 180 to 200 mark.

“It's definitely something that Kappie and I were talking about during our partnership in the middle. We felt that it was the perfect opportunity to try and push a bit earlier.

“I think that Chamari Athapaththu was a very big wicket upfront. I think if she got in on that wicket it would have been a slightly different game.

“But, I'm very happy with how both disciplines performed.”

The 2nd T20 International will be played on Saturday at the JB Mark Oval in Potchefstroom.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport