The Sri Lanka women’s team defeated the Netherlands in their ICC Women’s World Cup 2021 Qualifier tournament opener by 34 runs (DLS method)
Having been put to bat first by the Dutch team, the Sri Lankan women posted a total of 278 runs, thanks to a blazing ton from Skipper Chamari Athapaththu.
Athapaththu was unstoppable with the bat right from the start as the southpaw bolted herself to a century in just 64 deliveries. Her striking helped Sri Lanka to get to the hundred-run mark in just the 16th over, and that was a foot-on-the-throat blow for the Dutch women. She scored a stroke-filled 111 runs in just 70 deliveries.
Sri Lanka managed to keep the run rate over 6 runs an over till the 41st over, helping them into a commanding position.
Had the finishing been better they could have easily scored 300+ runs, but 278 was still a very strong target.
Middle-order batter, Anushka Sanjeewani, was the next-best scorer after Chamari, as the right-handed wicket keeper-batter made 32 runs to her name.
Leg spinner Caroline de Lange was the pick of the bowling for Netherlands as the 23-year-old picked up 4 wickets for 64 runs.
The Dutch chase was led by the opener Babette de Leede who helped Netherlands put Sri Lanka under some serious pressure, scoring 78 runs off 99 deliveries.
No. 3 batter Sterre Kalis scored a stylish 68 runs to support the chase, but her efforts were not enough to pull Netherlands to victory.
The game saw a rain-interruption during the Netherlands innings in the 15th over but no overs were lost. However, the game was still cut short later on due to bad light.
The Lankan ladies were deemed winners through the Duckworth Lewis Stern method.
Two brilliant spells from Sri Lankan off-spinner Oshadi Ranasinghe and left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera came as a great support for Sri Lanka to seal the game.
The two bowlers bowled with immense control and dried up the runflow drastically, as the duo walked off with economy rates under 4.
Oshadi also picked up 2 wickets in her quota of overs becoming the major wicket-taker of the innings.
Sri Lanka rose to the second position in the group behind West Indies with a positive net run rate of 0.799 as a result of the win.
Brief scores
Sri Lanka WMN 278/9 (50 overs) Chamari Athapaththu 111, Anushka Sanjeewani 32, Caroline de Lange 4/64
Netherlands WMN 196/6 (43.4 overs) Babette de Leede 78, Sterre Kalis 68, Oshadi Ranasinghe 2/36
Sri Lanka Women won by 34 runs (DLS method)
