Sri Lanka women stamp their authority in Windies rout. – By TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE. (eLanka Sports Editor)
Sri Lanka’s women restored some national pride with a dominant victory over the West Indies in the first one-dayer in Hambantota.
Chamari Athapaththu’s rising stars continued their climb in the world game while taking the heat off their male counterparts who are heading home after achieving the worst World Cup appearance in their history.
Sri Lanka’s women have shown a sharp spike in their progress as they now pose a threat to the heavyweights, with wins over England New Zealand and South Africa away which is the best by any team in their short history.
Winning the toss and putting the Windies in, Chamari Athapaththu’s team went to work on containing the scoreboard, and they did this to perfection.
Improved fielding backed a accurate pace/ spin attack had the West Indies in a quandary as they laboured to 195 all out in 47 1 overs.
Suhandika Kumari, 3 for 30 off nine overs, and Kavisha Dilhari 3 for 41 off 9.2 overs had the Windies batters all at sea to contain them to below 200.
Only skipper Haley Matthews (38)and Stefanie Taylor (33) stood up to the penetrative Sri Lanka attack.
Sri Lanka in reply waded into attack thanks to a exciting opening stand of 88 between Vishmi Gunaratne 40 off 51 and skipper Chamari Athapaththu 38 off 36 balls.
They then lost four wickets before Harsitha Samarawickrema an unbeaten 44 off 53 balls and Hasini Perera steadied the ship to steer them home in only 34.1 overs.
It was a heartening performance for the cricketing crazy nation who were given something to celebrate as the men’s team stumbled and bumbled at the T20 World Cup to be eliminated in the first round for the very first time.
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