Athapaththu leads Sri Lanka to their first win over NZ in any format
The Sri Lanka spinners did the spadework, setting up a 171-run chase, and then a 159-run stand between Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne took them home
ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jun-2023
Chamari Athapaththu scored her seventh ODI century, 108 not out off 83 balls•Getty Images
New Zealand are rated higher than Sri Lanka and are ahead of them on the Women’s Championship points table, but the combined might of their spinners and the peerless Chamari Athapaththu ensured that Sri Lanka started their ODI series, at home in Galle, with a comprehensive nine-wicket win.It was Sri Lanka’s first win over New Zealand in women’s cricket in any format, and included their highest stand for any wicket in women’s ODIs – 159 between Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne – as well as an unbeaten 108 from just 83 balls from Athapaththu. In a match reduced to 28 overs per side because of morning rain, New Zealand put up a decent 170 for 5. But it took Athapaththu and Co just 27 overs to run it down.The two of them, Athapaththu and Gunaratne, played contrasting innings. While Athapaththu hit ten fours and five sixes in her unbeaten century – her seventh in the format – and scored at 130.12, her partner was more sedate, scoring her 50 at a strike rate of 67.56.
Sri Lanka were, however, ahead of the asking rate, and when Sophie Devine sent Gunaratne back for New Zealand’s only success with the ball, the target was 12 runs away with 17 balls to go. Athapaththu finished the job off with Harshitha Samarawickrama for company.Earlier, Devine, the New Zealand captain, opted for first strike after winning the toss, but Bernadine Bezuidenhout was back in the fifth over, caught and bowled by left-arm spinner Sugandika Kumari.A 60-run stand between the Suzie Bates and Amelia Kerr followed, but the going – especially for a shortened game – wasn’t spectacular. And when Bates (28 in 35) and Kerr (40 in 51) fell, to the offspin of Kavisha Dilhari and the left-arm spin of Inoka Ranaweera respectively, New Zealand had got to 89 in the 18th over.They needed quick runs, and they came from Devine (19 in 14), Maddy Green (38 in 30) and Georgia Plimmer (23 not out in 25), but two run-outs, of Devine and Green, hurt New Zealand’s progress. Still, 170 was a solid total. Not enough, on the day, as it turned out, not with Athapaththu blazing away.The second match of the series will be played at the same venue on June 30, followed by the third on July 3.