The captain of the Sri Lanka Women’s Cricket team, Chamari Athapaththu smashed 80 runs of 47 balls as Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by ten wickets in the third and final T20 match at the P Sara Oval, on Wednesday.
The victory was a consolation for the hosts, who had lost the first two matches in the series.
Inoka Ranaweera took 3 wickets for 15 runs, Sugandika Kumari took two wickets as the Kiwis were restricted to a total of 140.
Chamari played very aggressively as the hosts scored 64 runs within the powerplay without losing a wicket. The captain scored 45 runs of the 64 runs in the powerplay.
Athapaththu reached her half-century in just 25 balls which was the fastest 50 scored by a Sri Lankan woman in T20is. She finished off the game unbeaten with 80 runs, of which she scored 13 boundaries and two sixes.
The opening batter who recently took up the top rank for batters in Women’s ODI cricket managed to notch a fine consolation win for the hosts.
READ MORE: Chamari Athapaththu Becomes Sri Lanka’s First Player to Top ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings
Harshitha Samarawickrama played the supporting role as she scored 49 off 40 deliveries to support the chase. She hit three boundaries in the 14th over to complete the chase with 33 balls to spare.
For the Kiwis, skipper Sophie Devine had the highest score of 46 off 25 balls of which two boundaries and three sixes were scored. The visitors had a batting collapse as the team lost five wickets for just 11 runs in the final three overs.
The chase enabled Sri Lanka to create a new record for the highest 10-wicket run chase in women’s T20i history as they beat the previous record by one run which was held by New Zealand as they changed 142 against Ireland in 2018.
The partnership between the Sri Lankan openers was the highest partnership for any wicket and was the third century-plus partnership by the women’s team in T20is. The captain was involved in the other two partnerships as well.
Scores: New Zealand 140/9 (Devine 46, Ranaweera 3-15, Kumari 2-23) lost to Sri Lanka 143 for 0 (Athapaththu 80 not out, Samarawickrama 49 not out) by 10 wickets.