Sri Lanka fought back from a bad 3rd quarter and 7-goals down to defeat Barbados 60-56 in a Pool E game in the Netball World Cup 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Barbados, who had defeated Sri Lanka in the 2015 World Cup 67-33, took a 0-2 lead, but Sri Lanka made it 3-2 early in the game. Midway through the quarter Barbados scored 3 consecutively to make it 6-8 but at the end of the quarter Sri Lanka managed to equalize at 15-15.
Sri Lanka improved in the 2nd quarter turning over Barbados ball on several occasions. A 5-0 inside three minutes saw Sri Lanka take a 21-16 lead and built a 7-goal lead, the largest of the game, at 24-17. However, Barbados managed to bring the deficit down to 4 at half time with the scores reading 30-26 (15-11).
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The 3rd quarter was a disaster for Sri Lanka as Barbados upped their game. 0-3 and 0-5 runs saw Barbados taking a 36-39 lead by the 8th minute. They finished off the quarter strong extending the lead to 5-goals at 43-48 (13-22). Sri Lanka shot 13 from 13 but Barbados had 23 attempts.
Like in the last game, Head Coach Thilaka Jinadasa benched Semini Alwis for the last quarter and brought in Malmi Hettiarachchi at center while promoting Gayanjali Amarawansa to Wing-Attack and Dulangi Wannithilake to Goal Attack.
That proved to be a masterstroke as Sri Lanka once again fought back even though Barbados made it 43-50 inside a minute. Sri Lanka had a 5-0 run to make it 48-50 but Barbados again made it 50-54. However, towards the end Sri Lanka forced Barbados into a few turnovers and took advantage of it. 2-0 and 3-0 saw Sri Lanka equalize at 55 all and a 4-0 run saw them finish the game and secure the win at 60-56 (17-8).
Thishala Algama at Goal Shooter had a monster game scoring 47 out of 50 attempts (94%) while Semini Alwis and Wannithilake went perfect scoring 9/9 and 4/4 respectively. For Barbados, Latonia Blackman had 29/35 at 82.9%, and Kadeen Corbin, who had earlier represented England, had 27/31 at 87.1%. Dulangi Wannithilake was adjudged the Player of the Match for her game changing performance.
Scorers
Barbados – Latonia Blackman 29/35 & Kadeen Corbin 27/31
Sri Lanka – Thishala Algama 47/50, Dulangi Wannithilake 4/4, Semini Alwis 9/9
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