Sri Lanka Women’s captain Chamari Athapaththu scores an unbeaten fifty to guide her side to a 7-wicket win against New Zealand Women in the 1st T20I to take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.
With the win, Sri Lanka Women have now registered their first win of the tour.
It was a dismal showing from the home side with the bat, as they were bundled out for 101 runs in 18.5 overs. In reply, SL Women chased down the total with 35 balls remaining, as their skipper scored an unbeaten 64 off 48 balls, which included 9 fours and 2 sixes.
Suzie Bates (New Zealand captain):
“Disappointed to play like that in the first game. We started off well in the powerplay. Emma McLeod on debut did well. She ran hard between the wickets. That is what you like to see. But we did not have enough on the board.”
“The new ball swings here, but in the middle overs today Kavisha Dilhari got the ball to grip and turn and we could not put her away. We have to take lessons from this. Some of our mainstays are missing and we are relying on our junior players. But if I am brutally honest, we did not target the stumps enough with the ball. You cannot do that against Athapaththu.”
Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka Women Captain):
“Finally, I scored some runs and the bowlers did well in powerplay and in death overs. We executed the right plans at the right time. I batted through the innings but others also chipped in, they played with intent and played well. (On bowling performance) Special mention to Malki Madara, the debutant. She handled the pressure well and other bowlers too executed their plans to perfection.”
“(On youngsters) As captain I am happy as they are playing good cricket in domestic cricket and at the age group level. We want to build a team for the future. We are on the right track. (On her own knock) Yeah, exactly. They bowled well to me in ODIs. They executed their plans. I played better in this game. They got me out on bouncers in the ODIs a couple of times so I worked on that in the nets. I executed my plans at the right time.”
Source: ABP
