White Ferns fall to Sri Lanka in First ODI - Vincent Jones

The White Ferns have lost the first ODI against Sri Lanka in a rain affected game in Galle.

White Ferns: Suzie Bates, Bernie Bezuidenhout, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine, Maddy Green, Georgia Plimmer, Brooke Halliday, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu, Eden Carson, Fran Jonas

Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu, Vishmi Gunaratne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Nilakhi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani, Kavisha Dilhari, Hansima Karunaratne, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Sugandika Kumari, Inoka Ranaweera, Udeshika Prabodhani

Bezuidenhout and Bates opened the batting for the White Ferns. The pair worked together well, taking 17 runs from the first 4 overs, with a couple of boundaries for Bezuidenhout. She unfortunately was the first player dismissed after making her way to a run a ball 13. Bates was joined by Amelia Kerr and the pair combined together well, building a solid platform for the White Ferns. They scored well, and found the gaps in the field on multiple occasions. The fall of Suzie Bates however, came at a crucial time for Sri Lanka, with Dilhari taking her wicket for 28 from 35.

Captain Sophie Devine and Kerr needed to try and up the scoring rate to get the White Ferns to a competitive total, but Kerr was dismissed a couple of overs later for 40 by Ranaweera. Devine fell two overs later, runout. Maddy Green had tried to play a stroke down the ground, but the Ferns skipper was out of her crease and Ranaweera touched the ball, just before it hit the stumps. Green was joined by former Wellington teammate, Georgia Plimmer and the pair combined for 7 overs and put on 63 runs. Plimmer was run out with 3 balls to go for 22. The White Ferns finished on 170/5 from their 28 overs. Kerr top scored with 40, whilst Green made 39. Kumari, Dilhari and Ranaweera all took one wicket.

Athapaththu and Gunaratne opened the innings for Sri Lanka. The pair got Sri Lanka off to an excellent start in the chase of 171. They were 31/0 after four overs with not many chances for the White Ferns to take early wickets. Making their way to 60/0 after 10 overs. The White Ferns were going to need to make a breakthrough shortly otherwise they would be steering down the barrel of defeat. Unfortunately for the Kiwi side they couldn’t contain Athapaththu or Gunaratne who just kept ticking the strike over, and edging closer to the required total. It took the White Ferns till the 26th over to finally make the first and only breakthrough, with Gunaratne being dismissed by Sophie Devine for 50 from 74 balls. In the same over, Athapaththu brought up her century and she was able to carry her side to victory making 111 from 83 balls. Devine was the only wicket taker for the White Ferns as they lost by 9 wickets.

Vincent Jones’ POTM - Chamari Athapaththu