Sri Lanka hold their nerve to qualify for ICC Women’s T20 WC 2024

Sri Lanka Women cricketers pose after securing their T20 World Cup qualification

 UAE Captain Esha Oza played a lone hand for her team to take the Player of the Match award 

Sri Lanka Women’s team celebrate their semi-final victory over UAE

• Beat UAE by 15 runs in second semi-finals of Qualifier

Favourites Sri Lanka were given a run for their money by hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE) before clinching a 15-run win in the second semi-final played under lights at Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

The win saw Sri Lanka join Scotland as the second qualifier for this year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup which will be played in Bangladesh from 3-20 October. Both teams will meet each other today at the same venue to play in the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier.

Put into bat first Sri Lanka totalled 149-6 and were given some anxious moments when Esha Oza nearly took the game away from them with a blistering 66 off 44 balls (2 fours, 4 sixes) that saw them nicely placed to upset the odds at 104-2 in the 15th over.

However, the experience Sri Lanka carried in their side finally paid off and once they removed Oza, they managed to gain control of the match and tied down the rest of the batters so that UAE finished on 134-7.

Openers, Vishmi Gunaratne and Captain Chamari Athapaththu, delivered a sound start for Sri Lanka in the form of a 52-run partnership, brought up in 7.2 overs. Athapaththu (21) threatened to take the game away from the UAE with some big shots, including two consecutive sixes, but allowed the UAE to breathe a sigh of relief when she was dismissed by leg-spinner Vaishnave Mahesh (2/33).

Gunaratne then added 44 for the second wicket with Harshitha Madavi (24), the partnership was broken by Mahesh, who struck again in the 16th over. Gunaratne, who went past Kathryn Bryce as the tournament’s leading run scorer during her 45-run innings (180 runs in five innings), was stumped off a wide ball by Oza (2/27). The right-hander hit five fours in her 44-ball innings.

After Gunaratne’s departure, middle-order batters Hasini Perera (15), Kavisha Dilhari (17) and Nilakshi De Silva (18) hit eight boundaries between them in the death overs to take the team to a competitive, 149-run total.

Oza then went on to produce one of the standout innings of the tournament as the UAE gave Sri Lanka a real fight with the bat. She lost her opening partner, Theertha Satish without scoring, in the first over of the chase. Oza then led the second-wicket partnership of 66 runs with Khushi Sharma (22). She added 37 for the third wicket with Kavisha Egodage (16) to keep her team in contention.

Oza played some scintillating shots in her blazing 66 off 44, as Sri Lanka’s bowlers searched for answers. The Islanders got the much-needed breakthrough when the right-hander was bowled out by Udeshika Prabodhani in the 16th over with the score at 108. During the course of her breathtaking innings, Player of the Match Oza went past Gunaratne as the tournament’s highest run scorer to date, 189 runs at 47.25.

The captain’s loss derailed the UAE’s chase, the lower-order batters failing to get the required boundaries with Sri Lanka’s bowlers and fielders tightening the screws. The UAE’s innings continued to stutter until the end of their allotted overs.

Athapaththu was the best bowler of the night for Sri Lanka with two wickets for 28 in four overs. Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadharshani and Udeshika Prabodhani took a wicket each.

Scores: Sri Lanka Women 149-6 (20) (Vishmi Gunaratne 45, Chamari Athapaththu 21, Harshitha Samarawickrama 24, Vaishnave Mahesh 2/33, Esha Oza 2/27)

United Arab Emirates Women 134-7 (20) (Esha Oza 66, Kushi Sharma 22, Chamari Athapaththu 2/28)