Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu smashed a blistering half-century, helping the Falcons register a convincing win over the Sapphires at the ongoing FairBreak Invitational T20 Tournament 2023.
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Falcons Skipper Sana Mir won the toss and invited the opposition to take the first lease of the wicket. The decision paid off as the Falcons bowlers managed to restrict the Sapphires to 131 runs in the allotted 20 overs.
Marizanne Kapp was the pick of the bowlers for the Falcons as she grabbed 3 wickets for 15 runs. Athapaththu also picked up a wicket in her 3-over spell.
In reply, Falcons opening pair Suzie Bates and Danni Wyatt got off to an excellent start, posting 47 runs for the first wicket. Athapaththu then joined Bates at the crease and the duo stitched together an unbeaten match-winning partnership worth 86 runs off 48 balls for the 2nd wicket.
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Athapaththu played a blinder of an innings, smashing 75 runs off 44 balls with 7 fours and 6 sixes at a strike rate of 170.45. The Falcons moved up to the 3rd place in the points table after this win, and have have accumulated 9 points by winning 2 out of 4 games played so far.
Brief Scores
Sapphires – 131 (20) Kary Chan 32, Shabnim Ismail 26, Gaby Lewis 20, Marizanne Kapp 3/15, Sornnarin Tippoch 2/11
Falcons – 133/1 (13.3) Chamari Athapaththu 75*, Suzie Bates 42*
Result – Falcons won by 9 wickets
