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Last Updated : 2024-05-21 07:04:00
8 September 2023 04:33 pm - 11 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Sri Lanka women's cricket team's historical series win in England on Wednesday (6) has to go down as one of country's greatest ever achievements in sports.
Heather Knight led an English team consisted of so many superstars and with Sri Lanka's defeat on the opening match, it looked like it was going to be another one-sided series, but then the iron women of Sri Lanka Cricket goes by the name of Chamari Atapattu decided to rewrite the history in front a brilliant crowd in London.
The Sri Lankan Captain - Atapattu led from the front with two Player-of-the-Match Performances in the second and third T20 matches which saw Sri Lanka absolutely thrashing England on their home soil.
Atapattu made 55 runs on the second T20 and picked up a wicket for 11 runs before producing another world class performance in the third T20 in which she bagged three for 21 before smashing a match-winning 44 off just 28 balls in a chase of 117 runs. She ended the series with 114 runs and 5 wickets.
Despite her outstanding performance over the last few years, Atapattu has not been given an opportunity to play in the leading women's franchise competitions such as Women's Premier League (WPL), Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) and The Hundred (women's) this time around. Atapattu who was clearly disappointed by this left a note on her social media which read "rejection is some kind of a motivation for me."
In fact one of England's best fast bowlers, Katherine Sciver-Brunt stated that "Based on current form, Chamari not getting picked for Women's Big Bash League is criminal."
Atapattu's idol growing up Sanath Jayasuriya in a recent interview said that Atapattu is the greatest asset Sri Lanka has ever had in women's cricket and that the women's cricket should be given more support.
In terms of her impact she has had on the game, Atapattu must be right up there with the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Aravinda de Silva and Lasith Malinga because none of the Sri Lankan male cricketers frankly did not have to shoulder the team as much Atapattu has.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka women's cricket coach Rumesh Ratnayake has observed other players stepping it up when the team needs it the most.
Middle order batter Nilakshi de Silva has been playing well for Sri Lanka. Particularly against New Zealand and Bangladesh during the last series, she was able to finish games strongly while Harshitha Samarawickrama and Vishmi Gunaratne have played some vital innings up top.
With the ball biggest revolution has been the leg spinner 22-year-old Kaveesha Dilhari who was able to capture five wickets in the 2-1 series win against England while the senior left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera has also been brilliant with the ball.
Sri Lanka women's team certainly have the potential to go a long way in big ICC event should they work on few areas such as finding an express pace bowler which is a huge advantage even in the men's game. (Harsha Amarasinghe)
Not many people care Friday, 08 September 2023 05:10 PM
Too much emphasis on women's sport when majority of sports watchers of little or no interest. Sri Lanka women's team can be world champions 10 years running, but majority of boys will not care one bit, and most girls are unimpressed too.
European Saturday, 09 September 2023 11:03 AM
Maybe only in Sri Lanka. Women football is very popular in many modern developed countries.
Aquarius Saturday, 09 September 2023 07:36 AM
Very unfortunate comment. Our women's team has done us proud and they deserve their due respect and praise and respected place in our sporting world. Belittling our own, even when they win, is unfortunate. They deserve our support and backing and wish them well with more future success.
Men's sports are much like instead Saturday, 09 September 2023 12:52 PM
Why don't you leave all your personal wealth in your will to the sports woman then if you love them so much? Your children's future seems to matter less than the fun of watching the woman? Public money is utterly wasted on woman sport , when there are too many children in poverty. It is too grandiose to support for great rewards for the woman, when men's sports are greatly respected in this country.
Men's sports are much like instead Saturday, 09 September 2023 12:52 PM
Why don't you leave all your personal wealth in your will to the sports woman then if you love them so much? Your children's future seems to matter less than the fun of watching the woman? Public money is utterly wasted on woman sport , when there are too many children in poverty. It is too grandiose to support for great rewards for the woman, when men's sports are greatly respected in this country.
Sambo Saturday, 09 September 2023 09:39 AM
Don't speak too soon.
Men's sports are much like instead Saturday, 09 September 2023 12:54 PM
@European In our culture men are seen as the greater performers. In our military even women are known to be less capable to do the hard work. Maybe in Developed country woman are big and musclebound, which developed country men like. Here woman like that are considered ugly.
Fred Saturday, 09 September 2023 08:28 PM
Keep up the support things won't always go their way. As for Chamari Athapaththu she really is a star and an inspiration to her team makes the bowling look ordinary How did the IPL miss her.Ranil should appoint her as a Goodwill Ambassador, one of our best exports
Alison Saturday, 09 September 2023 10:21 PM
They were humiliated today by England in the 1st ODI. England only needed 18 overs to overcome the pathetic SL score ! Sadly I wasted money on a ticket and I didn't even get value for money. It only lasted few hours and most of us went home very disappointed !
cricket fan Sunday, 10 September 2023 06:48 AM
Unfortunately the so called world beaters Sri Lanka's Women's Cricket team suffered a humiliating loss to England in the first ODI. They were thrashed this time by a much stronger and far superior England Women's Cricket team by 7 wickets by a record 32 overs to spare and with more than 50 overs of the entire match still remaining.
Fred Sunday, 10 September 2023 10:10 PM
Don't despair SL if you have lost the first ODI.There was a time when the SL men could not handle the extra pace later they excelled Iam sure with experience and support from fans you will improve, lot of hard work ahead
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