Sri Lanka ends Ireland tour with consolation win

Sri Lanka Captain Chamari Athapaththu (extreme right) returned to form to lead her team to victory

Sri Lanka won their first-ever tour to Ireland with a consolation win when they beat the hosts by eight wickets in the third and final WODI played at Belfast.

A strong bowling performance by seamer Achini Kulasuriya (3/35) saw Ireland collapse to 10-3 inside five overs and lose half the side for 28 before being dismissed for 122 with the skipper Chamari Athapaththu making her first big impact in the series capturing three wickets for 15 and then following it up with her best contribution with the bat – 48 off 49 balls (10 fours) to see her team through victory with plenty of balls to spare.

With Harshitha Samarawickrama continuing her fine form with an unbeaten 48 off 56 balls (7 fours), Sri Lanka won at a canter.

Athapaththu won the toss on this occasion and opted to bowl, and quick bowler Kulasuriya struck off the first two balls of the innings, sending back Sarah Forbes and Hunter for ducks. Orla Prendergast, the captain, fell next, also to Kulasuriya, for 3. Inoshi Priyadharshani and Amy Kanchana chipped in with a wicket apiece, and it was 28 for 5 in the 15th over.

The fight back came courtesy Paul and Arlene Kelly. It was slow going, painfully so at times, but they added 36 runs between them in just under 15 overs. Kelly was starting to pick up speed, but Paul fell to Sachini Nisansala for 19 (in 53 balls), and then there was a rush of wickets again. Canning became Athapaththu’s first wicket, Kelly the second, and between them Athapaththu and Nisansala finished the innings off.

Priyadharshini returned remarkable figures of 10-5-7-1 with an economy rate of 0.70, second on the list of most miserly ODI spells by a Sri Lanka woman cricketer, behind Rose Dovey’s 1 for 5 (with eight maidens) against Pakistan back in 2002.

Athapaththu dominated the opening stand of 32 with Vishmi Gunaratne, and then put on a 62-run stand for the second wicket with Samarawickrama in 11-and-a-half overs, taking Sri Lanka to 94 with 32 overs left in which to score 29 runs. The win was just around the corner, and Samarawickrama took Sri Lanka there with Kavisha Dilhari (10*) off 15 balls with her at the end in the 23.1 overs.

Ireland won the ODI series 2-1, after the two-match T20I series ended in a 1-1 draw.

Scores: Ireland Women 122 (46.3) (Arlene Kelly 35, Achini Kulasuriya 3/35, Chamari Athapaththu 3/15)

Sri Lanka Women 123-2 (23.1) (Chamari Athapaththu 48, Harshitha Samarawickrama 48*)