SRI LANKA WOMEN’S CRICKET TEAM NEEDS A REWAMP – By Sunil Thenabadu
Authorities of Sri Lanka Cricket should be adorned for organizing the tri nation women’s cricket tournament with the clear intention of exposing our women cricketers to the more fancied Indian and South African women. Unfortunately, this exercise did not prove futile sans adding much value to the many Sri Lanka women cricketers to authenticate their abilities to cement their places.
Been an ardent cricket fan and a former cricket reporter , one who watched every ball live in the seven ODI’s played at the RPS , only plus spots were shown by the Indian and South African cricketers with many excellent batting performances with centuries scored by Dercksen ,Smriti, Jemimah, the trio outclassed Sri Lankan women batsmen with only Chamari, Harshitha, Nilakshi with the bat and Dewmi Vihanga in ball only been impressive. However, all bowlers including Dewmi were flayed by batswomen of India and South Africa.
Chamari at the top was not herself not opening was shaky when batting, was even reported by the match referee to the ICC for dashing her sunglasses to break into pieces in frustration on the turf when a proteas batswoman slammed her for a boundary. She was penalized for breaching the ICC code of conduct was deducted ten percent of her match fee. Most women in the team are ageing over thirty five years old should not be considered for selection. Many players having played for over ten years were just passengers sans any notable performances..Hence new blood should be infused soon before the women’s World Cup in India scheduled to commence in late September 2025.The performances of our women’s team could be termed as lacklustre should remember in the forthcoming women’s WC 2025 we will have to face more strong teams like England, West Indies and Australia hence should be equipped better to face them.
There is no single girl from a Colombo school included in the squad. The other day SLC had donated a cricket pitch and nets to a girl’s school in Nugegoda to groom young girls. This exercise should be pursued rigorously to groom new talent which should be available in abundance among many girl schools in and around Colombo as our women’s team needs a definite restoration to be of any contention in the Women’s World Cup in India.
