Athapaththu won the toss on this occasion and opted to bowl, but Sri Lanka wouldn’t have expected the rewards they got early on. Indeed, when Sri Lanka had opted to field in the last game, Ireland rode on half-centuries from Amy Hunter (66), Leah Paul (81) and Rebecca Stokell (53*) to put up 255 for 5, enough for a 15-run win. This time, though, quick bowler Kulasuriya struck off the first two balls of the innings, sending back Sarah Forbes and Hunter for ducks. Orla Prendergast, the captain, fell next, also to Kulasuriya, for 3. Inoshi Priyadharshani  and Amy Kanchana chipped in with a wicket apiece, and it was 28 for 5 in the 15th over.

The fightback came courtesy Paul and Arlene Kelly.  It was slow going, painfully so at times, but they added 36 runs between them in just under 15 overs. Kelly was starting to pick up speed, but Paul fell to Sachini Nsiansala for 19 (in 53 balls), and then there was a rush of wickets again. Canning became Athapaththu’s first wicket, Kelly the second, and between them Athapaththu and Nisansala finished the innings off.

Priyadharshini returned remarkable figures of 10-5-7-1 with an economy rate of 0.70, second on the list of most miserly ODI spells  by a Sri Lanka woman cricketer, behind Rose Dovey’s 1 for 5 (with eight maidens) against Pakistan back in 2002.

It had been a quiet ODI series for Athapaththu, as she recorded scores of 0 and 22 in the first two games. Her opening partner Vishmi Gunaratne and No. 3 Samarawickrama took charge in Athapaththu’s place in those two games, scoring centuries, but Ireland were the superior side on both occasions.

This time, Athapaththu dominated the opening stand of 32 with Gunaratne, and then put on a 62-run stand for the second wicket with Samarawickrama in 11-and-a-half overs, taking Sri Lanka to 94 with 32 overs left in which to score 29 runs. Athapaththu’s 48 came off 49 balls and included ten fours.

The win was just around the corner, and Samarawickrama took Sri Lanka there with an unbeaten 48 in 56 balls, hitting seven fours of her own, with Kavisha Dilhari on 10 off 15 balls with her at the end, which came in 23.1 overs.

Ireland won the ODI series 2-1, after the two-match T20I series had ended 1-1.