SL scores consolation win – first over White Ferns

New Zealand Women with the series trophy after their 2-1 win over Sri Lanka Women

• Athapaththu smashes 80* off 47 balls
• New Zealand take WT20I series 2-1

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The trend during the Women’s ODI and T20I series against New Zealand was if Sri Lanka cricket captain Chamari Athapaththu scored her team wins, and if she fails they lose.

This was quite evident in the first and third WODIs where Athapaththu scored a hundred in each of the matches and Sri Lanka won to clinch the series 2-1.

Yesterday, after two failures in the first two WT20Is which Sri Lanka lost, Athapaththu brought her full repertoire of strokes into play to score an authoritative 80* off 47 balls studded with 13 fours and two sixes to lead her team to a thumping ten-wicket win in the third and final WT20I played at the P. Sara Oval yesterday.

It was a consolation win for Sri Lanka who came to the match having already conceded a winning 2-0 lead to New Zealand, but nevertheless it was in some ways historic because it was their first ever win in this format over the White Ferns in 13 matches.

The toss to an extent played a crucial part in the WT20I series with the side winning it inviting the opposition to bat first and winning the contest. Sri Lanka lost the toss in the first two games and lost, but yesterday Athapaththu called correctly and put New Zealand to bat first, and won.

“The toss is something which I have learnt in the past few weeks, even New Zealand don’t know what to score when they are batting first,” said Sri Lanka women’s cricket Head Coach Rumesh Ratnayake. “On a wicket which is 23 days old with so much roll they won the toss and they put us in. That is out of the norm. Normally you win the toss, you bat first. Actually speaking, we also did the same when we won the toss today. Realistically, it would have been the wrong decision but both teams were not certain of what to score when they bat first, they were in a sort of a tentative mood. It is a game where you don’t hit only the bad balls, but the good balls as well. That’s the modern game whether it’s men’s or women’s cricket. We have to come out of that perception.” Sri Lanka bowled a tight line and length to keep New Zealand down to a score of 140-9 and knocked the runs off without losing a wicket in 14.3 overs with Harshitha Samarawickrama playing a splendid innings of 49* off 40 balls (7 fours) and putting on an unbroken opening stand of 143 with her captain.

Experienced batters Suzie Bates (37 off 38 balls, 6 fours) and skipper Sophie Devine (46 off 25 balls, 2 fours, 3 sixes) made runs at the top for New Zealand who were kept tied down to a score of 127-4 in the 18th over. In an attempt to accelerate towards the latter part of the innings New Zealand lost wickets cheaply with five wickets falling for 13 runs.

Left-arm spinners Sugandika Kumari (2/23) and Inoka Ranaweera (3/15) put the brakes on the New Zealand scoring by picking up wickets at crucial phases of the innings.

Overall, both teams won three matches each with Sri Lanka winning the WODI 2-1 and New Zealand returning the compliment with a similar victory (2-1) in the WT20I.

While Athapatthu was named Player of the Match, Suzie Bates took the Player of the Series award. The awards were presented by SLC Executive Committee member Kithsiri de Silva.

Scores: 

New Zealand Women: 140-9 (20) (Suzie Bates 37, Sophie Devine 46, Sugandika Kumari 2/23, Inoka Ranaweera 3/15)

Sri Lanka Women: 143-0 (14.3) (Harshitha Samarawickrama 49*, Chamari Athapaththu 80*) 

Player of the Match - Chamari Athapaththu

Player of the Series - Suzie Bates    

Sri Lanka opening pair Harshitha Samarawickrama and Chamari Athapaththu put on an unbroken stand of 143