ri Lanka chased down 116 in the 3rd T20I to clinch an unlikely series win against England at Derby yesterday (6).
Before arriving on English shores, Sri Lanka had never beaten England in the T20I format and their only other win in Internationals came during the ODI World Cup in 2013. After a tough start to the series, where they conceded 186 in 17 overs and eventually lost on D/Ls. They stormed back with an 8 wicket win in Chelmsford and in the 3rd T20I proved that the previous game was no flash in the pan, bowling England out cheaply once again.
It was a good toss to win for Sri Lanka as they opted to put England into bat once again. A trial by spin awaited and the English lost two early wickets once again, with Danni Wyatt the first to go off the very first ball of the game – setting the tone for the rest of the innings.
Wyatt’s opening partner Maia Bouchier was involved in a huge mix-up with Alice Capsey, sending the latter to the pavilion and giving Sri Lanka a breakthrough after the pair had put on 30 for the 3rd wicket.
Bouchier ended up as the top scorer for England as the hosts suffered a massive collapse, from 70/3 to 72/6 and eventually 166 all out. Sri Lanka’s bowling was tight once again with all the bowlers barring Sugandika Kumari amongst the wickets. Chamari Athapaththu was the pick of the bowlers, with 3/21 and was well supported by Kavisha Dilhari and Udeshika Prabodhani who picked up 2 wickets apiece.
With 116 to chase, Chamari Athapaththu came out in an aggressive mood as usual, taking a liking to Kate Cross once more. This time she got some support from Anushka Sanjeewani at the other end too, as the keeper batter also scored at better than a run a ball. The pair put on 65 in 6.4 overs, laying the base for the batters to come.
Sanjeewani didn’t last long after Athapaththu’s dismissal for 44, but Harshitha Samarawickrama kept her calm to guide Sri Lanka through to a historic series win.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danni Wyatt | c Hasini Perera b Inoshi Priyadarshani | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Maia Bouchier | c Kavisha Dilhari b Udeshika Prabodhani | 23 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 127.78 |
| Alice Capsey | run out (Anushka Sanjeewani) | 9 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 112.50 |
| Heather Knight | lbw b Kavisha Dilhari | 18 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 94.74 |
| Amy Jones | st Anushka Sanjeewani b Chamari Athapaththu | 20 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 117.65 |
| Freya Kemp | c Nilakshi de Silva b Kavisha Dilhari | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
| Danielle Gibson | b Udeshika Prabodhani | 21 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 140.00 |
| Charlie Dean | b Inoka Ranaweera | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 55.56 |
| Sarah Glenn | not out | 16 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 94.12 |
| Kate Cross | st Anushka Sanjeewani b Chamari Athapaththu | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Mahika Gaur | lbw b Chamari Athapaththu | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 1 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 0, w 1, pen 0) |
| Total | 116/10 (19 Overs, RR: 6.11) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inoshi Priyadarshani | 2 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 7.50 | |
| Udeshika Prabodhani | 3 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 5.33 | |
| Chamari Athapaththu | 4 | 0 | 21 | 3 | 5.25 | |
| Sugandika Kumari | 4 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 7.00 | |
| Inoka Ranaweera | 3 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 6.67 | |
| Kavisha Dilhari | 3 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 5.33 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chamari Athapaththu | c Charlie Dean b Alice Capsey | 44 | 28 | 5 | 2 | 157.14 |
| Anushka Sanjeewani | c Alice Capsey b Sarah Glenn | 20 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 125.00 |
| Harshitha Samarawickrama | not out | 26 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 92.86 |
| Vishmi Gunaratne | lbw b Sarah Glenn | 8 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 47.06 |
| Hasini Perera | not out | 9 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 69.23 |
| Extras | 10 (b 0 , lb 3 , nb 0, w 7, pen 0) |
| Total | 117/3 (17 Overs, RR: 6.88) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahika Gaur | 3 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 7.33 | |
| Kate Cross | 3 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 6.67 | |
| Charlie Dean | 3 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 7.67 | |
| Sarah Glenn | 4 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 5.75 | |
| Alice Capsey | 3 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 7.00 | |
| Danielle Gibson | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5.00 | |
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