ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier Atapattu ton leads SL to opening day victory

BY AMINDHA DE ALWIS

Captain Chamari Atapattu got Sri Lanka’s ICC Women’s World Cup qualification campaign off to a roaring start with a boundary-laden knock of 111 which helped see off the Netherlands by 34 runs (DLS Method) on the opening day of the qualification tournament in Harare.

Atapattu’s innings came off just 70 balls and was studded with 11 fours and five hits over the rope. The skipper’s knock was instrumental in her team reaching 278 for 9 in their allotted 50 overs. Caroline de Lange was the pick of the Dutch bowlers, and her figures of 4 for 64 helped limit Sri Lanka, who had been motoring along at over 6 runs an over for most of the innings, to a sub-300 total. The Netherlands made a decent fist of their run-chase courtesy of a 141-run stand for the second wicket between Babette de Leede (77) and the Netherlands’ premier batter Sterre Kallis (66). With the score reading 154 for 1, the Netherlands would have fancied an upset but captain Atapattu, who decided to bring herself on at a critical juncture, once again made the difference as she accounted for de Leede in the 32nd over which gave Sri Lanka the opening they needed.

The fall of four more wickets in the next six overs saw the Dutch fall behind the DLS par-score by the time rains came down and put an end to the game with the score reading 196 for 6. Oshadi Ranasinghe with 2 for 36 in her 10 overs returned the best figures among the Sri Lankan bowlers. Sri Lanka were handicapped in their team selection owing to three players in the touring party testing positive for Covid-19 a few days ahead of the opening fixture. The three players have been placed in isolation and are under medical care. Meanwhile, West Indies, Bangladesh and Pakistan too recorded wins to kickoff their tournament. The top three teams from the Qualifier will progress to the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. Sri Lanka are to play their next game on Saturday versus the West Indies.

Scores:

Sri Lanka Women - 278 for 9 in 50 overs (Chamari Atapattu 111, Anushka Sanjeewani 31, Hasini Perera 26, Nilakshi Perera 26, Caroline de Lange 4 for 64)

Netherlands Women - 196 for 6 in 43.4 overs (Babette de Leede 77, Sterre Kallis 66, Oshadi Ranasinghe 2 for 36)