Lankan women eye Gold at Asian Games cricket

 The Sri Lanka women’s cricket team took part in a religious ceremony at Sri Lanka Cricket headquarters prior to their departure for the Asian Games in China yesterday

• Leave for Hangzhou, China

Sri Lanka women cricketers led by Chamari Athapaththu will be walking into uncharted territory when they take strike in China at the 19th Asian Games. 

The Sri Lanka women’s team returned home on Saturday from a tour of England where they won the WT20I series 2-1 beating the hosts for the first time and losing the WODI series 2-0.

“The conditions are going to be totally different, the weather in China is around 30-33 degrees Celsius,” said Sri Lanka women’s cricket team Head Coach Rumesh Ratnayake. “I had a look at the ground on Google and it looks green. At the start, it might be a bit greenish. Even though it is greenish we have to expect the worst. We don’t know whether it will seam or if it's just a showcase green. They have only one ground and four wickets to play 18 (men’s) and 11 (women’s) matches.”

All matches for both the men's and women's tournaments will be held at the Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field. 

The matches at the Asian Games will be played in the T20 format and Sri Lanka is riding high having beaten New Zealand and England in a recently concluded series.

‘It would suit the whole subcontinent India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The confidence will be there but we should not be grounded in that confidence and should not be overawed by it. It’s a matter of reminding ourselves you need hard work to get that confidence,” said Ratnayake. “It’s a different game, different teams and different opposition. How we react is the challenge which we have. What we are preparing is to react better. It would be a surprise. When we went to England also it’s our reaction against their bowling and batting. Everybody has to react fast and be prepared for what we expect from them. It’s just confidence.”

The chances of Sri Lanka winning a medal? “Our ambition is to win the Gold. To be a part of the Asian Games is a huge privilege. To win the Gold will be the target of many teams.”

Sri Lanka who are ranked third after India and Pakistan will go straight into the quarterfinals where they play either Indonesia, Mongolia, Hong Kong or Malaysia on 22 September. The semi-finals are on 24 September and the playoff for the Bronze medal and the Final will be on 25 September.

From the 16 players who toured England, Sri Lanka has made two changes to the side picked for the Asian Games. Hansima Karunaratne has to miss out because her name was not included in the Asian Games squad that was picked three months ago, and Kaushini Nuthyangana replaces Kawya Kavindi who has dislocated her left shoulder. – (ST)