England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt’s superb hundred, followed by Sophie Ecclestone’s 4-wicket haul, guided England Women to an 89-run win over Sri Lanka Women in the 12th match on Saturday (11th October) at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. With this third consecutive win in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, they climbed to the top of the points table.
Chasing 254 to win, Hasini Perera and Chamari Athapaththu opened the batting for Sri Lanka and looked solid in the first five overs. In the next over, Athapaththu appeared to be in pain while taking a single and suffered a cramp in her right leg, forcing her to be stretchered off the field. Vishmi Gunaratne then walked out to the crease but couldn’t stay long, as she was bowled by a beauty from off-spinner Charlie Dean, leaving Sri Lanka at 37 for 1 in 9.1 overs.
Perera was then joined by Harshitha Samarawickrama, and the pair looked to steady the chase. They managed to score at a good rate as the partnership reached fifty. However, just as the stand began to flourish, Perera departed for 35 after hitting straight to mid-off. Samarawickrama soon fell to the same bowler, with Sophie Ecclestone striking in two consecutive overs.
Following those quick wickets, skipper Athapaththu returned to the crease, looking much better while running. But left-arm spinner Ecclestone continued to do the damage. First, she picked up the wicket of Kavisha Dilhari, before Athapaththu, struggling to find rhythm, became Ecclestone’s fourth victim.
Nilakshi de Silva tried to keep the scoreboard moving, but wickets continued to tumble. Runs were hard to come by as she fell for 23, and soon after, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 164, handing England another dominant win to stay unbeaten in this World Cup.
Ecclestone, who spun a web around the Lankan batters, was absolutely outstanding, finishing with figures of 4 for 17 in 10 overs, including three maidens. After her fine century, Nat Sciver-Brunt also contributed with the ball, claiming two wickets.
Earlier in the day, both the toss and the start of the match were delayed by 15 minutes due to earlier rain. Sri Lanka opted to bowl first after winning the toss as they strengthened their spin attack by bringing in off-spinning allrounder Dewmi Vihanga in place of Achini Kulasuriya, making the only change for the hosts. England, meanwhile, went unchanged, keeping their winning combination after beating South Africa and Bangladesh in their first two games.
A good throw from Kavisha Dilhari saw England’s opening stand last for 3.4 overs. They lost Amy Jones while looking for a needless run and ended up being run out. Tammy Beaumont looked good from the start but was eventually dismissed for a quick 32 off Sugandika Kumari.
At 63 for 2, they had the opportunity to send back England’s captain when she was on 3, but unfortunately, Udeshika Prabodhani at short mid-wicket dropped the catch off Inoka Ranaweera’s bowling. As a result, Sciver-Brunt added 60 runs with Heather Knight for the third wicket. Ranaweera broke the partnership through a successful review to dismiss Knight. Sophia Dunkley was not able to hang on for long, being dismissed with Dilhari holding onto a sharp low catch off her own bowling. The experience of Ranaweera pulled the home side back in big time when the left-arm spinner produced a double-wicket maiden, leaving England 6 down for 168.
However, skipper Sciver-Brunt capitalized on the early reprieve as she continued to keep the scoreboard ticking after reaching the half-century. She shared another crucial 38-run stand with Dean, taking England past 200. Runs kept flowing from Sciver-Brunt’s bat as she went on to register her 5th hundred in ODI World Cup history, becoming the first to do so. Twenty-eight runs came off the final two overs as Sciver-Brunt powered England to post 253 for 9 at the end of their 50 overs. She got out off the penultimate delivery after striking three consecutive fours and ended up with a run-a-ball 117, which included 11 boundaries.
From Sri Lanka’s point of view, Ranaweera was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with 3 for 33 in 10 overs. Prabodhani and Kumari also managed to pick up two wickets each, but both were expensive.
The match also marked a special milestone for Sri Lanka, as they played their 200th Women’s One Day International, becoming the eighth team to reach the landmark.
Brief Scores:
England Women – 253/9 (50) Nat Sciver-Brunt 117, Tammy Beaumont 32, Heather Knight 29, Inoka Ranaweera 3/33, Udeshika Prabodhani 2/55, Sugandika Kumari 2/66
Sri Lanka Women – 162 (45.4) Hasini Perera 35, Harshitha Samarawickrama 33, Nilakshi de Silva 23, Sophie Ecclestone 4/17, Nat Sciver-Brunt 2/25, Charlotte Dean 2/47
England Women won by 89 runs.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amy Jones | run out () | 11 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 84.62 |
| Tammy Beaumont | c Harshitha Samarawickrama b Sugandika Kumari | 32 | 29 | 6 | 0 | 110.34 |
| Heather Knight | c Dewmi Vihanga b Inoka Ranaweera | 29 | 47 | 2 | 0 | 61.70 |
| Nat Sciver | c Nilakshika Silva b Udeshika Prabodhani | 117 | 117 | 9 | 2 | 100.00 |
| Sophia Dunkley | c & b Kavisha Dilhari | 18 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 60.00 |
| Emma Lamb | b Inoka Ranaweera | 13 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Alice Capsey | st Anushka Sanjeewani b Inoka Ranaweera | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Charlie Dean | c Dewmi Vihanga b Udeshika Prabodhani | 19 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 52.78 |
| Sophie Ecclestone | st Anushka Sanjeewani b Sugandika Kumari | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 75.00 |
| Linsey Smith | not out | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 83.33 |
| Lauren Bell | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 5 (b 1 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 3, pen 0) |
| Total | 253/9 (50 Overs, RR: 5.06) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Udeshika Prabodhani | 9 | 0 | 55 | 2 | 6.11 | |
| Sugandika Kumari | 10 | 0 | 66 | 2 | 6.60 | |
| Chamari Athapaththu | 5 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 4.20 | |
| Inoka Ranaweera | 10 | 1 | 33 | 3 | 3.30 | |
| Dewmi Vihanga | 8 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 5.25 | |
| Kavisha Dilhari | 8 | 0 | 34 | 1 | 4.25 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hasini Perera | c Alice Capsey b Sophie Ecclestone | 35 | 60 | 3 | 0 | 58.33 |
| Chamari Athapaththu | b Sophie Ecclestone | 15 | 39 | 2 | 0 | 38.46 |
| Vishmi Gunaratne | b Charlie Dean | 10 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 111.11 |
| Harshitha Samarawickrama | c Lauren Bell b Sophie Ecclestone | 33 | 37 | 5 | 0 | 89.19 |
| Kavisha Dilhari | b Sophie Ecclestone | 4 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 26.67 |
| Nilakshika Silva | c Heather Knight b Alice Capsey | 23 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 60.53 |
| Anushka Sanjeewani | lbw b Nat Sciver | 10 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Dewmi Vihanga | c Charlie Dean b Nat Sciver | 3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Sugandika Kumari | b Charlie Dean | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Udeshika Prabodhani | c Katherine Brunt b Bryony Smith | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Inoka Ranaweera | not out | 3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Extras | 24 (b 0 , lb 6 , nb 0, w 18, pen 0) |
| Total | 164/10 (45.4 Overs, RR: 3.59) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lauren Filer | 8 | 1 | 32 | 0 | 4.00 | |
| Linsey Smith | 8.4 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 2.50 | |
| Nat Sciver | 5 | 0 | 25 | 2 | 5.00 | |
| Charlie Dean | 9 | 1 | 41 | 2 | 4.56 | |
| Alice Capsey | 5 | 1 | 15 | 1 | 3.00 | |
| Sophie Ecclestone | 10 | 3 | 17 | 4 | 1.70 | |
 at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. With this third consecutive win in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025, they climbed to the top of the points table.){kind=link}