Chamari Athapaththu made her 2nd half century in as many games as Sri Lanka beat Kenya by 9 wickets, with 63 balls to spare in their 2nd match of the Commonwealth Games Women’s Cricket Competition Qualifiers in Malaysia.
The left-hander showed no mercy to the Kenyan bowlers, attacking from the word go alongside partner Vishmi Gunaratne in Sri Lanka’s chase of 87. Athapaththu got to her half-century in 27 deliveries, just shy of her own record for the fastest fifty in Women’s T20Is by a Sri Lankan (26-ball record was set in the last game vs Scotland).
Read: Sri Lanka Cricket announce squad for Commonwealth Games qualifiers
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka put the Kenyans in to bat, perhaps in the hope of dismissing them cheaply and then looking for a boost in Net Run Rate with a quick chase. But things didn’t start too well for the Lankans with Tharika Sewwandi bowling 3 wides to kick off proceedings. The left-armer replaced senior pro Udeshika Prabodhani in the playing XI as Sri Lanka’s only change from the previous game.
Read: Nisansala impresses on debut; Athapaththu flattens Scotland
Despite the wayward start, the Sri Lankan bowlers kept the scoring rate low, before Queentor Abel and Sarah Wetoto came together in the 8th over, with the scores reading 26/3. The pair put on 45 for the 4th wicket, before Athapaththu turned her arm over to dismiss Abel and turn the momentum of the game back in Sri Lanka’s favour.
Read: Sri Lanka register comfortable win in Commonwealth warmup
Kavisha Dilhari starred with the ball with 1 wicket for 11 runs, proving to be nearly impossible to score off.
As expected, Athapaththu and Gunaratne went after the bowling right from the word go, completing the chase with more than 10 overs to spare, bringing them to the top of the table with 4 points and an NRR of 5.186, ahead of their main rivals in the competition, Bangladesh, who also have 2 wins and an NRR of 4.007.
Sri Lanka’s next fixtures are as follows
- 22ndJanuary 2022 – Sri Lanka vs Malaysia
- 24thJanuary 2022 – Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queentor Abel | lbw b Chamari Athapaththu | 33 | 53 | 6 | 0 | 62.26 |
| Mary Mwangi | run out () | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 12.50 |
| Margaret Ngoche | lbw b Inoka Ranaweera | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Sharon Juma | run out () | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
| Sarah Wetoto | c Ama Kanchana b Kavisha Dilhari | 29 | 31 | 3 | 1 | 93.55 |
| Monicah Ndhambi | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Daisy Njoroge | b Sachini Nisansala | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Venasa Ooko | not out | 5 | 48 | 0 | 0 | 10.42 |
| Esther Wachira | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 14 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 12, pen 0) |
| Total | 87/6 (20 Overs, RR: 4.35) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tharika Sewwandi | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 5.00 | |
| Ama Kanchana | 3 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 4.33 | |
| Inoka Ranaweera | 3 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 5.00 | |
| Sachini Nisansala | 4 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 6.25 | |
| Kavisha Dilhari | 4 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 2.75 | |
| Nilakshi de Silva | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.00 | |
| Chamari Athapaththu | 3 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 3.33 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vishmi Rajapaksha | not out | 26 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Chamari Athapaththu | st Ruth Achando b Esther Wachira | 57 | 29 | 8 | 3 | 196.55 |
| Hasini Perera | not out | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 6 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 0, w 6, pen 0) |
| Total | 89/1 (9.3 Overs, RR: 9.37) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lavendah Idambo | 2 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 8.00 | |
| Mercyline Ochieng | 2 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 9.50 | |
| Queentor Abel | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 5.00 | |
| Mary Mwangi | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 16.00 | |
| Sarah Wetoto | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 18.00 | |
| Esther Wachira | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4.00 | |
| Daisy Njoroge | 0.3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 20.00 | |
