Chamari, Oshadi set up Lanka’s series clinching win

Oshadi Ranasinghe receives her Player of the Match award from SLC Executive member and Umpires Committee chairman Bandula Dissanayake

Sri Lanka Women’s captain Chamari Athapaththu on the offensive during her knock of 64

Harshitha Samarawickrama pulls for runs during her unbeaten knock of 45

• Bangladesh loses third and final ODI by 58 runs

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu and off-spinner Oshadi Ranasinghe played the stellar roles for Sri Lanka in their series clinching 58-run win over Bangladesh in the third and final Women’s ODI match played at the P Sara Oval yesterday.

In a game reduced to 30 overs a side because of wet ground conditions, Sri Lanka winning the toss and batting first rattled up an impressive 186-5 with Chamari setting the pace with a scorching knock of 64 off 60 balls (6 fours, 4 sixes) and sharing an opening stand of 50 with Vishmi Gunaratne (17), and a further 53 for the second wicket with Harshitha Samarawickrama (45* off 48 balls, 1 four, 2 sixes). Harshitha and Kavisha Dilhari (25) put the final touches to the innings with a stand of 40 for the fifth wicket.

Requiring to score at over six runs an over, Bangladesh did not get off to a good start losing three wickets for 35 in the first seven overs, a position from which they never recovered as Oshadi got into the act and made life a misery for them with her tantalysing off-breaks to finish with her first five-fer in ODI cricket – 5/34, and take the Player of the Match award.

Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana (37) and Fargana Hoque (24) tried their best to uplift the batting with a partnership of 61 for the fourth wicket, but once Chamari had her vis-à-vis Sultana caught by Dilhari and nine balls later Oshadi sent back Fargana, the rest of the Bangladesh batters hardly offered any resistance as they were dismissed for 128.

With the first two ODIs ending in no-results due to bad weather, Sri Lanka clinched the three-match series 1-0, and improved their points tally to five from nine matches (2 wins) in the ICC Women’s Championship table.

Scores: Sri Lanka Women 186-5 (30) (Chamari Athapaththu 64, Harshitha Samarawickrama 45*, Kavisha Dilhari 25, Sultana Khatun 1/22)

Bangladesh Women 128 (29.5) (Nigar Sultana 37, Fargana Hoque 24, Oshadi Ranasinghe 5/34)