Chamari Athapaththu smashed 80 off 46 in the 3rd T20I between Sri Lanka and New Zealand to give the hosts their 1st ever 10-wicket win in International Cricket at the P Sara Oval earlier today.
Athapaththu was at her imperious best against a pace-heavy New Zealand bowling attack, smashing 13 fours and 2 sixes on her way to 80 not out. Her half-century came in just 25 deliveries, the fastest by a Sri Lankan, beating her own mark of 26 balls against Scotland.
She signaled her intentions early on with a six and a four against Eden Carson to begin the innings and never really slowed down, taking apart the visitors’ attack.
Harshitha Samarawickrama gave Athapaththu good support at the other end, opening the batting in the absence of youngster Vishmi Gunaratne, scoring 49* off 40 deliveries, including 3 boundaries off the 15th over by Molly Penfold to finish the game.
Earlier in the day, Athpaththu won the toss for the 1st time on the tour and had no hesitation in fielding first.
Sri Lanka were left to rue their decision early on, with Suzie Bates and Izzy Gaze putting together 43 for the 1st wicket, during which time Bates struck 4 boundaries, looking to take on the bowlers early.
Gaze was the first to go, the 1st of 3 batters who fell to Inoka Ranaweera, before Sugandika Kumari and Kaveesha Dilhari struck in consecutive overs to send Amelia Kerr and Bates back into the pavilion.
For the first time in the series, Sri Lanka had a crack at the White Ferns’ middle order and they made the most of it, Maddy Green, Georgia Plimmer and Brooke Halliday contributing just 15 runs in total.
Sophie Devine nearly took the game away from Sri Lanka, striking the ball ferociously on her way to 46 off 25, but her dismissal at the beginning of the 19th over caused a mini collapse – the Ferns managing just 5 runs in the last 2 overs, for the loss of 4 wickets. Devine was put down on 6 by Inoshi Fernando.
In the end, that proved to be a turning point, with the White Ferns having to settle for 140, instead of a 150+ score which they would have been targeting when Devine was at the crease.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suzie Bates | b Kavisha Dilhari | 37 | 38 | 6 | 0 | 97.37 |
| Isabella Gaze | b Inoka Ranaweera | 13 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 92.86 |
| Amelia Kerr | c Kavisha Dilhari b Sugandika Kumari | 14 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Sophie Devine | c Nilakshi de Silva b Inoka Ranaweera | 46 | 25 | 2 | 3 | 184.00 |
| Maddy Green | c Kavisha Dilhari b Kawya Kavindi | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 83.33 |
| Georgia Plimmer | st Anushka Sanjeewani b Inoka Ranaweera | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Brooke Halliday | c Chamari Athapaththu b Sugandika Kumari | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Hannah Rowe | c & b Inoka Ranaweera | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Molly Penfold | run out (Anushka Sanjeewani) | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Eden Carson | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Fran Jonas | not out | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 11 (b 0 , lb 3 , nb 2, w 6, pen 0) |
| Total | 140/9 (20 Overs, RR: 7) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-43 (5.1) Isabella Gaze, 2-65 (10.1) Amelia Kerr, 3-73 (11.1) Suzie Bates, 4-104 (14.6) Maddy Green, 5-127 (17.2) Georgia Plimmer, 6-135 (18.1) Sophie Devine, 7-135 (18.2) Hannah Rowe, 8-138 (19.3) Molly Penfold, 9-138 (19.4) Brooke Halliday, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kawya Kavindi | 4 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 6.75 | |
| Inoshi Priyadarshani | 3 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 8.33 | |
| Sugandika Kumari | 4 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 5.75 | |
| Inoka Ranaweera | 4 | 0 | 15 | 3 | 3.75 | |
| Chamari Athapaththu | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 7.50 | |
| Kavisha Dilhari | 3 | 0 | 32 | 1 | 10.67 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harshitha Samarawickrama | not out | 49 | 40 | 7 | 0 | 122.50 |
| Chamari Athapaththu | not out | 80 | 47 | 13 | 2 | 170.21 |
| Extras | 14 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 0, w 14, pen 0) |
| Total | 143/0 (14.3 Overs, RR: 9.86) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eden Carson | 3 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 10.33 | |
| Hannah Rowe | 2 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 12.00 | |
| Molly Penfold | 1.3 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 21.54 | |
| Sophie Devine | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 6.50 | |
| Amelia Kerr | 3 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 8.00 | |
| Fran Jonas | 2 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 8.50 | |
| Brooke Halliday | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6.00 | |
