The Sri Lanka Women’s Cricket team departed the island for the ICC Women’s World T20 2018, that is set to commence on the 9th of November in the West Indies, earlier today.
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The squad, which is headed by explosive left hander Chamari Atapattu, will have a difficult task at hand at the tournament, being grouped alongside hosts West Indies, England, Bangladesh and South Africa. West Indies shocked the world when they dethroned powerhouse Australia in the last edition of the tournament while England are the defending ODI World Champions. Add to this, Sri Lanka’s group also feature the reigning Asian Champions, Bangladesh.
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Speaking to the press ahead of the team’s departure, Head Coach Harsha De Silva, however, was quick to counter the idea that Sri Lanka would find it hard to move past the 1st round, considering the opposition they will be up against.
“It’s a very strong group. Pretty much every team in the tournament is a tough opponent. Our preparation has been good. Yes, Bangladesh won the Asia Cup, but we were the only team to defeat Bangladesh in that tournament, so in T20s, what matters is how you play on the day.”
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Sri Lanka’s last assignment was against the touring Indian Women, where the teams played 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is. Despite losing the ODI series 2-1 and T20I series 4-0, Sri Lanka put on an improved performance to what fans had grown accustomed to. It is a widely held belief that this improvement is as a result of the appointment of Harsha De Silva as coach, the man who took the Lankans to unprecedented heights during the 2013 Women’s World Cup, where they beat both England and India. The growing confidence within the team itself was apparent when skipper Chamari Atapattu reiterated that if Sri Lanka played to their best ability, they could beat any team in the world.
“We are going to take it one game at a time. The team has prepared well, with the resources provided to us by Sri Lanka Cricket. We have seen a big change in the team since our coach Harsha De Silva was appointed. We had a few good performances against India during our last series as well, so we are going into this tournament with belief. I believe we have a team that can beat any other team, it all depends on how we play on the day.”
As with any event of this magnitude however, much will depend on the start Sri Lanka get in the tournament and they can take some heart from the fact that the last time they played England in the first game of a major tournament (back in the 2013 ICC Women’s World Cup) they created history by beating the English by one wicket.
“The first game of a tournament like this is very important. In 2013, we beat England in the 1st game of the ICC Women’s World Cup. So, doing well in the first game will definitely give us the mental edge. England is one of the best teams in the world, but if we play our best cricket on the day, we can beat any team. The best example of this is us beating India. The ranking is just a number.” – Chamari Atapattu
The tournament will be held from the 9th – 24th of November with Sri Lanka playing their 1st game on the 11th against England. Sri Lanka will play two warm up games ahead of their 1st fixture.
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