Due to Chamari’s exceptional skills, the Sri Lankan women’s team won the series against the New Zealand women’s team – By eLanka
In a historic victory, Sri Lanka Women’s cricket team clinched a series win over New Zealand Women, led by their skipper Chamari Athapaththu’s exceptional performance. Athapaththu played a crucial role, scoring her second century of the three-match series, as Sri Lanka achieved a commanding nine-wicket victory in Galle.
Athapaththu displayed incredible batting skills, smashing 140 runs off just 80 deliveries. Her innings included 13 boundaries and an impressive nine sixes. Partnering with Nilakshi de Silva, they set a new record for Sri Lanka with a remarkable 190-run partnership, the highest ever for the team in any format.
The match was affected by rain, and New Zealand managed to score 127 runs for the loss of two wickets in 31 overs. Suzie Bates top-scored for the visitors with 63 runs. Due to the rain interruption, Sri Lanka had to chase a revised target of 196 runs in 29 overs. Initially, the hosts faced a challenging situation, losing two early wickets with just six runs on the board.
However, Athapaththu took charge of the innings and single-handedly propelled Sri Lanka towards a historic win. Her unbeaten century, achieved in just 60 balls, became the fourth-fastest in the history of women’s ODIs. She displayed her power-hitting skills, smashing nine sixes during her whirlwind knock.
With 13 balls to spare, Sri Lanka successfully chased down the revised target and secured an eight-wicket victory using the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method. The entire team celebrated the momentous win, as it marked Sri Lanka’s first bilateral series victory over New Zealand and their first series win against any opponent in over 15 years since their triumph against West Indies in 2008.
This series win added four crucial points to Sri Lanka’s tally in the ICC Women’s ODI Championship, a round-robin competition involving ten teams. The championship determines the automatic qualification for the 2025 World Cup in India.
Chamari Athapaththu’s exceptional performances throughout the series solidified her reputation as a key player for Sri Lanka. In the series opener, she scored an unbeaten 108 runs, guiding Sri Lanka to a nine-wicket victory in a rain-shortened match. Although New Zealand fought back in the second game with centuries from Amelia Kerr and Sophie Devine, Sri Lanka was unable to chase down the target.
With her remarkable contributions, Athapaththu now holds the record for the ten highest individual scores by a Sri Lankan woman in ODIs.
Sri Lanka’s qualification hopes for the 2022 World Cup were dashed due to the cancellation of the qualifying event in Zimbabwe following a Covid outbreak. Consequently, Pakistan and Bangladesh secured the two available spots in the eight-team tournament.
Moving forward, Sri Lanka will look to build on this historic series win and continue their progress in international women’s cricket.
