White Ferns’ all-rounder Sophie Devine smashed a brilliant half century and picked up the vital wicket of Lankan skipper Chamari Atapattu to help New Zealand secure a comfortable win over the tourists in the 1st T20 at the Hagley Oval today.
Coming in to bat at the fall of the 1st wicket, Devine scored at a brisk pace throughout her innings of 54 which included 1 four and 4 sixes and later picked up the 1st of the Sri Lankan wickets to fall, when she had Atapattu out LBW in the 3rd over of the innings.
Earlier in the day the New Zealand openers Suzie Bates and Rachel Priest once again piled on the misery for the Lankan bowlers after Bates decided to bat first having won the toss. The pair put on an explosive 82 run opening stand which was eventually broken by the introduction of spin, with Inoka Ranaweera trapping Priest in front for 49. In fact it was an improved bowling performance by the tourists, particularly in the spin bowling department as the Ferns looked like running away with a huge total when they reached their 50 in under 4 overs; Atapattu, Suganthika Kumari and Ranaweera managed to bring down the scoring rate to some extent. Devine batted through the innings forging important partnerships with both Sara McGlashan and later Amy Satterthwaite. A last over cameo by Katie Perkins saw the White Ferns finish with 188 off their 20 overs, which is incidentally their highest score in T20 internationals, beating the 186 they made against South Africa in 2007.
Chasing a daunting 189 for victory, skipper Atapattu made her intentions clear early on, smashing Lea Tahuhu for six in the 2nd over of the innings but she was dismissed in the next over by Devine and the attack petered out from that point on. Sri Lanka were never in the chase and seemed to be content once again in trying to bat out the 20 overs with the least damage done. Oshadie Ranasinghe held the innings together with a calm 34 and a brief 35 run partnership with Ama Kanchana helped the tourists finish on 86 for 6, giving New Zealand a record winning margin of 102 runs.
Devine, Erin Bermingham and Anna Peterson picked up a wicket a piece while Tahuhu bagged 2 wickets for 10 runs.
Sri Lanka will take on the hosts in 2 more T20s, the first of which will be in Nelson on the 20th of November.
New Zealand Women 188/3 (20) (Sophie Devine 54, Rachel Priest 49, Suganthika Kumari 1/25)
Sri Lanka Women 86/6 (20) (Oshadi Ranasinghe 34, Lea Tahuhu 2/10, Erin Bermingham 1/13)
New Zealand Women won by 102 runs
