Athapaththu blitzes Sri Lanka to mammoth victory over New Zealand

White Ferns: Suzie Bates, Izzy Gaze, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine, Maddy Green, Georgia Plimmer, Brooke Halliday, Hannah Rowe, Molly Penfold, Eden Carson, Fran Jonas Sri Lanka: Harshitha Samarawickrama, Chamari Athapaththu, Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Anushka Sanjeewani, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Hasini Perera, Imesha Dulani, Kawya Kavindi

New Zealand have lost the third and final T20i against Sri Lanka. The Kiwi’s made three changes to the side that played in the last match. Izzy Gaze, Hannah Rowe and Molly Penfold all came into the XI, with Bernie Bezuidenhout, Leigh Kasperek and Lea Tahuhu dropping out.

Suzie Bates and Izzy Gaze opened the batting for New Zealand after being sent in by Sri Lanka. This was Gaze’s first time opening the batting for New Zealand, usually batting down the lower order. Bates and Gaze were able to get New Zealand off to a good start, scoring boundaries in every over of their partnership. At the end of the 6th over mark, New Zealand were 43/0, but Gaze departed next ball for 13 from 14, with Ranaweera bowling her. The loss of Gaze meant that Amelia Kerr joined Bates in the middle.

They had batted together on multiple occasions on the tour and worked well with each other. It was looking like it would be another day of the Bates/Kerr show after taking 12 from a Chamari Athapaththu over, Kerr was dismissed by Sugandika Kumari for 14. An over later, Dilhari picked Bates for a well made 37 from 38. Maddy Green and Sophie Devine were now in the middle and had the task of trying to get the White Ferns in the 8 overs that were left.

Devine started to go big from the 14th over, smashing Dilhari over the fence in two consecutive balls. Green departed the next over, with Kawya Kavindi picking up her first of the day. Georgia Plimmer joined her fellow Wellington teammate in the middle. At this stage of the game her job was to just get the skipper on strike, as she was the in batter. Plimmer did an alright job of this in the two overs that she was out the crease for, before she was stumped by Anushka Sanjeewani from the bowling of Inoshi Priyadarshani for 3.

Sophie Devine departed next over, for a well made 46 from 25, and Hannah Rowe went next ball, with Inoka Ranaweera picking up both wickets. In the final over, both Molly Penfold and Brooke Halliday were dismissed with Sanjeewani running out Penfold and Kumari picking up Halliday’s wicket. Devine top scored with 46 and Bates made 37. Devine also made 3000 T20i runs during her innings. Ranaweera picked up 3 wickets and Kumari got two.

Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama opened the innings for Sri Lanka. The pair got Sri Lanka off to a great start, right from the first over. They took 11 runs from the first over of Carson, with Athapaththu showing that she was able to hit against Carson. Hannah Rowe and Molly Penfold were then smashed around the park the next two overs, with 15 runs being taken from these overs. This left Sri Lanka sitting at 41/0 after three overs.

Devine decided to bring herself into the attack and was able to reduce the scoring a bit, only conceding eight runs from her opening over. Carson conceded 10 runs from the 5th over, leaving Sri Lanka sitting at 59/0 with one over left in the powerplay. Some smart bowling by the New Zealand captain, left Sri Lanka at 64/0 after the first six overs. The New Zealanders were able to slow the Sri Lankan scoring but they were still taking to the NZ bowlers.

With Sri Lanka still not having lost a wicket at the end of the 10th over and Sri Lanka sitting at 96/0, it was looking very likely that they would cruise to victory. Sri Lanka kept taking nine or ten runs from most of the New Zealand overs and eventually Samarawickrama hit the winning runs, via a four off Penfold to get the game done inside 15 overs. Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets, with Athapaththu making 80 from 47 and Samarawickrama making 49 from 40. Brooke Halliday had the best economy rate for the White Ferns, only going for 6 runs from her single over, whilst Sophie Devine went for 13 runs from her two overs.