Chamari Atapattu’s unbeaten 178 was all in vain as the defending champions Australia chased down 258 runs to take the win by 8 wickets at Bristol.
An unbeaten 178 off just 143 balls against the mighty Aussies is not something you see often in Women’s cricket. Chamari Atapattu, coming from a cricket crazy island, which is yet to make their mark in the women’s cricket defied all odds and played a knock to remember for years.
Lankan lionesses came to this game at the back of a heavy defeat and disappointing performance against New Zealand in their season opener. Australia, defending champions and tournament favourites had a brilliant start to their campaign beating West Indies easily in their first game.
Aussie skipper Meg Lanning won the toss and asked the islanders to bat first. Lankans got off to a horrible start with Nipuni Hansika walking back to the pavilion for a duck in the 3rd delivery of the match. However it paved way for Atapattu who wouldn’t have imagined breaking so many records as she did at the end of their innings.
She looked flawless from the word go and what makes her innings all the more special is the fact that she did it with minimum support from the rest of her teammates. The highest partnership of the Lankan innings came for the 7th wicket between Atapattu and Eshani Lokusuriyage. The pair put up 60 runs with Eshani contributing with only 13 runs.
Atapattu reached her ton in just 106 balls in the 39th over. This was her 3rd ODI Ton and she is the only player to reach triple figures in the international arena for Sri Lanka. She took the upper hand in the last ten overs and took the Aussie attack to the cleaners.
Wickets tumbled at the end but Atapattu soldiered on. She came to the crease in the first over and carried her team to a competitive total of 257. Along the way she broke down a few records. Her score of 178 is 69.26% of all runs scored by Sri Lanka which is the highest percentage of runs by an individual in the history of women’s cricket. This score is also the highest individual score ever against Australia by any team and the third highest individual ever in the history of women’s cricket.
Aussies came out with purpose and their chase was just too easy. Lankans lacked penetration and discipline which allowed the defending champions to tick away the runs. After the early loss of Beth Mooney for a duck, skipper Lanning and Nicole Bolton put up a massive 133 runs for the 2nd wicket.
Skipper Meg Lanning led from the front with a brilliant unbeaten 152 off just 135 balls. She found good support from Nicole Bolton who scored a brisk 60 at the top. Australia reached the target in the 44th over with 8 wickets in hand. Two big wins for the defending champions and two heart breaking losses for the Lankans
