Sri Lanka play two warm-up games before Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier

Saturday, 20 April 2024 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Sri Lanka women cricketers are all smiles after winning the third and final WODI against South Africa to level the series one-all

South Africa Captain Laura Wolvaardt and Sri Lanka Captain Chamari Athapaththu share the WODI series trophy after the three-match series ended in one-all draw (one no-result)

Sri Lanka will commence their campaign to qualify for a place in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup to be held in Bangladesh later this year with two warm-up matches starting at Tolerance Oval in Abu Dhabi tomorrow.

Sri Lanka will play Netherlands on Sunday and Vanuatu on Tuesday before they take on Thailand in the curtain-raiser game of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in Abu Dhabi on 25 April.

Sri Lanka are fresh from defeating South Africa in a record run chase and will start as favourites not only to win the Qualifier but also to find a place in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.

“We will not take any team lightly in the Qualifiers although they are much weaker opposition than what we have faced so far in South Africa,” said Sri Lanka women’s Head Coach Rumesh Ratnayake after the team arrived in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

“We will take every team seriously and our preparation is like for any other team,” “The wickets are going to be different but we don’t have time for any preparations, just the two warm-up matches before our first game against Thailand on Thursday. It doesn’t matter if we are a professional side and we back our skills. We are going with confidence but we are also aware of the dangers of playing minnows because we have access to other team videos and things like that. But we are ready for any surprise element.”

Ratnayake said that it was a bit ironic that Sri Lanka found themselves having to qualify for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.

“It goes by last year’s rankings apparently. We finished seventh but because Bangladesh is hosting it they got the rights to qualify automatically. That’s why we have to qualify.” – (ST)