Unruffled Sri Lanka women bounce back to turn the tide against Pakistan. BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE. (eLanka Sports Editor)
Sri Lanka’s women cricketers are showing they have risen to a serious force in the world game.
Beaten soundly in game one against Pakistan, the gritty Sri Lankans showed tremendous character and bounced back to annihilate the visitors 2-1 to underline their fighting ability.
Chamari Athapaththu’s rapidly rising squad are now viewed as a genuine threat to the best in the world after a T20 World Cup that saw them miss the semi final by just the net run rate. That’s a dramatic rise from where they were less than a decade ago.
Under Australian Jamie Siddons, a superb batter for Victoria for decades, the team has surged as a very talented outfit.
Siddons has elevated the platform set by former Sri Lanka great Rumesh Ratnayake who was instrumental in lifting Sri Lanka’s profile in the women’s game a few years ago and are not a one trick pony they were before.
They could have been demoralised and folded after the first game reversal. But the new look team is now well rounded and no pushover.
Centuries by Harshitha Samarawickrema 100, and Vishmi Gunaratne 128, 99-run steered Sri Lanka to an annihilation of the visitors after they posted what looked like a winnable total in game two.
They then rode on that confidence to wade into the decider with an aggressive mindset and pulled off a sensational 8-wicket victory to seal the series in 37.2 overs.
Skipper Athapaththu, is now not the one-woman pivot in the team, but led from the front in the decider. She grabbed 3 for 27 and then blasted 52 in 38 balls to steer Sri Lanka to a series win over a respected opponent.
Batting first, in what should have been a familiar surface, Pakistan were rocked by Opening bowler Chetana Vimukthi who combined with Athapaththu to rip off the top three wickets with only 10 runs on the board.
Pakistan consolidated, but were controlled by a tight Sri Lanka attack that stifled the urge for a reasonable target.
At 7 for 146 in 30.5 overs it was an uphill task for the visitors as they laboured to 187.
Vimukthi 3 for 36, Chamari Athapaththu 3 for 27 and Kavisha Dilhari 3 for 27 completed the demolition job.
It was then upto the batters to complete the job. They started off briskly with second game centurion Vishmi Gunaratne and Athapaththu breezing to 46 off 6 overs when Gunaratne departed.
Athapaththu and top scorer Harshita Samarawickrema added a further 39 before the skipper left after a belligerent knock of 52 off 38 balls.
Samarawickrema then teamed up with Hasini Perera and together they steered Sri Lanka to victory without further incident.
Samarawickrema had a wonderful series for Sri Lanka with the bat. She followed her century in the second game with an unbeaten 71 off 92 balls and with Perera 50 off 77 raced to victory in a sterling effort.
It’s going to be interesting when Sri Lanka meet Australia and India in the future and reassess where they sit against the best.
