Hansima Karunaratne stroked a perfectly paced half century to guide Western Province to a thrilling win, as they defeated North Central Province to be crowned Women’s Provincial T20 Champions 2016.
Western Province won the toss and in a surprise move decided to insert the opposition for the 1st time in the tournament. They would come to regret this decision however as the North Central batters took the attack to the opposition to score 131 in their allotted overs; the highest total of the tournament. In form Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Atapattu did the bulk of the damage, making a brisk 67. Dilani Manodara gave her solid support to finish on 41. The Westerners were only able to pick up 5 wickets with Sandani Thiwanka being the most economical bowler.
The North Central team would have been confident of defending their total, given that they had a quite a competent spin bowling attack, headed by Inoka Ranaweera. However it was not to be as Karunaratne, who had made runs in the previous game against North Central as well, played a mature innings to take her team to the win with just a delivery to spare. Nipuni Hansika has had a pretty good tournament and her form continued as she made 48 in the tight chase. Ranaweera tried to keep North Central in the hunt with two quick wickets but the Westerners ended up winning with 6 wickets in hand.
Scores
North Central Province – 131/5 (20) Chamari Atapattu 67, Dilani Manodara 41, Sandani Thivanka 1/12
Western Province – 135/4 (19.5) Hansima Karunarathna 52*, Nipuni Hansika 48, Inoka Ranaweera 2/27
Result: Western Province won by 6 wickets
