To be ranked number one batter was one of my dreams: Athapaththu

• Sri Lankan women’s Cricket Team captain talks of the hard yards she put in to get there

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Whilst expressing her happiness to be ranked the ICC number one women batter in ODIs, Chamari Athapaththu, the Sri Lanka women’s cricket team skipper spoke of the hard yards she had to put in to get there.

“I had a dream and a target to become the world’s no.1 women’s batter. I really worked hard to get there. Today I have received the benefits of that hard work,” said Athapaththu talking to the media about her achievement.

“There are a lot of people who were behind me. I like to especially thank Sri Lanka Cricket, the coaches in the national team, my teammates, my mother and my father and the entire family. They gave me their backing and it is because of their support I have been able to reach this position.”

The left-handed Athapaththu scored 108* in the first WODI and 140* in the third WODI against New Zealand both matches which Sri Lanka won to take the series 2-1. Those two centuries in three matches (she was out for a golden duck in the second WODI) saw Athapaththu project herself six places from seventh to number one, overtaking current top players like Harmanpreet Kaur, Meg Lanning and Laura Wolvaardt and displacing Australia’s Beth Mooney at the top.   

For the past decade or so Athapaththu has been the cornerstone of Sri Lanka women’s batting, and all the wins the country has achieved has always revolved around her contribution with the bat, especially when she scores a hundred.

Having made her WODI debut in 2010 Athapaththu has been part of the early struggles the Sri Lanka women’s cricket team had to undergo to reach international standards to compete with the rest of the world.  

“If you take the past 1 1⁄2 years there is a vast improvement in our women’s cricket team. In the past 3-4 months we have played extremely well and won matches. It will encourage a lot of young players to take up the game and the parents also will probably encourage their children to take up the game. I am confident that we can produce world class players in the future.”

Athapaththu is Sri Lanka’s only world class player of repute as her WODI and WT20I stats will tell you. In WODI she has scored 3199 runs (avg. 34.77) from 95 matches which includes eight centuries and 15 fifties. In 113 WT20Is, Athapaththu has made 2402 runs (avg. 22.03) with one century and six fifties and a strike rate of 103.57. The 33-year-old has also played franchise cricket around the world which puts her in a class above all her teammates.     

Looking ahead at the upcoming three-match WT20I series against New Zealand starting on Saturday at the P Sara Oval, Athapaththu said, “We should not take New Zealand lightly. In the world rankings they are in the top four. They have a set of talented young cricketers and also 5-6 of their players play franchise cricket around the world. They have a lot of experience in T20 cricket.”

“We should take the win in the WODIs and along with it the positives from those matches. I have told the players that we should play our own brand of cricket. We have done a thorough analysis of the New Zealand players and we have plans. What is important is executing those plans. Our coach Rumesh Ratnayake always tells us to follow our processes and do what is required for the moment. If we do that we will get the desired result. We are well prepared for the WT20I series and hope to give New Zealand a good contest.”

Meanwhile, not only Athapaththu, but the Sri Lanka women’s team have made improvements in the ICC Women’s Championships moving up by four places to second in the standings following their two wins over New Zealand. India head the table with 12 points (6 matches) followed by Sri Lanka with 10 (12 matches), Pakistan 10 (9 matches), New Zealand 10 (9 matches), West Indies 7 (9 matches), Australia 6 (3 matches), England 6 (6 matches), South Africa 6 (3 matches), Bangladesh 4 (6 matches) and Ireland 1 (9 matches).