Athapaththu special sinks Silver Ferns in first WODI

Chamari Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne during their record-breaking opening stand of 159

Amelia Kerr top scored for New Zealand with 40 off 51 balls

Sri Lanka Women’s captain Chamari Athapaththu exults after reaching her century

Inoka Ranaweera took a wicket and was involved in run out of two New Zealand batters

• Sri Lanka complete historic maiden win by nine wickets

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka Women skipper Chamari Athapaththu led an all-out assault on the New Zealand Women bowlers completing a grand unbeaten century to lead her team to a comprehensive nine-wicket win on the DLS method in the first Women’s ODI played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

The win was Sri Lanka’s first ever against New Zealand in any white ball format. They had played 10 WODIs prior to yesterday’s game and lost all.

Heavy overnight rain delayed the start due to a wet outfield and the contest was reduced to a 28-over affair. Sri Lanka left with a target of 172 chased it down in style to win with an over to spare thanks largely to a new Sri Lanka Women’s record opening stand of 159 between Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne. They beat the previous highest opening stand of 143 between Indika Kankanange (58) and Vasanthi Ratnayake (88) against Pakistan Women at Moors SC grounds in 2002.  

Athapatthu and Vishmi carried Sri Lanka to within 13 runs of the winning target when New Zealand had their solitary success having Vishmi caught for a well-compiled 50 off 74 balls (3 fours). Vishmi in fact played the supporting role to her captain who stamped her authority on the Silver Fern bowlers treating them with disdain to hit 10 fours and five sixes in a wonderful display of power hitting to score 108* off 83 balls. It was Player of the Match, Athapaththu’s seventh WODI century in 93 matches and during her innings she passed 3,000 runs in this format, the first Sri Lankan batter to achieve this feat.

Silver Ferns batting first on winning the toss scored at a healthy rate to total 170-5. Two half-century partnerships featured their innings. Suzie Bates (28) and Amelia Kerr (40) put on 60 for the second wicket, and a further partnership of 63 followed between Maddy Green (38) and Georgia Plimmer (23*). Left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari was the pick of the Lankan bowlers taking 1/28 off six overs.

The win gave Sri Lanka Women two valuable points in the ICC Women’s Championships 2022/23-2025 drawing them level on six points each with Australia, England and South Africa and pushing them upto fifth position in the standings.

The second WODI will be played at the same venue on Friday.

Scores: 

New Zealand Women 170-5 (28) 

Suzie Bates 28 

Amelia Kerr 40 

Maddy Green 38 

Georgia Plimmer 23*

Sri Lanka Women 172-1 (27)

Chamari Athapaththu 108*

Vishmi Gunaratne 50