The England Women racked up yet another comfortable win in the 2nd game of the 4 ODI series against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa earlier today. With the 122 run win, the tourists gained automatic qualification to the Women’s World Cup to be held in England next year.
England’s win came on the back of 3 excellent half centuries by Lauren Winfield, Captain Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver as well as some disciplined bowling that helped restrict the hosts to 173.
The hosts won the toss and opted to send the opposition in to bat 1st in Colombo. Lauren Winfield and Tammy Beaumont continued in the same vein as they had done at the SSC in the 1st ODI and 53 for the 1st wicket. Beaumont’s dismissal brought in Knight and along with Winfield, she ensured that the Sri Lankan bowlers were kept at bay as the pair put on 70 for the 2nd wicket. The innings continued in the same vein as the Lankan bowlers were never quite able to assert their dominance, despite picking up wickets at regular intervals as Georgia Elwiss and Katherine Brunt put on the finishing touches for the visitors with brisk knocks of 46 and 29 respectively. The visitors finished on 295 all out in their 50 overs.
Medium pacer Ama Kanchana and left arm orthodox spinner Inoka Ranaweera picked up three wickets a piece while Sripali Weerakkody, making a comeback into the team, picked up 2 wickets but went for plenty in her 10 overs.
Sri Lanka got off to another decent start as the openers put on 53 for the 1st wicket but the batters never really were on par with the required run rate and as a result, the pressure grew with each wicket. Hasini Perera, Nipuni Hansika and Chamari Polgampola each made 30s but their strike rates never crossed the 75 mark and Sri Lanka ended up well short of England’s target.
England gained 2 Women’s Championship points with the win, and thereby became the 2nd team, behind Australia, to qualify for the World Cup next year.
