A merciless unbeaten 106 off 61 balls from captain Chamari Athapaththu sent Sri Lanka scorching to the target of 131 with 27 balls and nine wickets to spare against Ireland.  Athapaththu’s fourth T20I hundred was her first in World Cups, and was brutal from start to finish. She had begun the innings with a scintillating boundary through cover, and finished it with an equally domineering stroke through the same region.

Ireland had recovered from a poor start to post 130 for 5, thanks largely to a 59 off 50 from their own captain Gaby Lewis. But their bowlers were no match for Athapaththu in this mood, and only Orla Prendergast could provide a breakthrough, dismissing opener Imesha Dulani.

Sri Lanka needed desperately to raise their net run rate to keep even their razor-thin hopes of making semi-finals alive. Athapaththu’s innings has raised their NRR to less than negative one, with Scotland still to play, and other matches remaining in the group.

Athapaththu unleashes

Following the disheartening loss to West Indies, Athapaththu had called herself a failure as a captain owing to her never having led Sri Lanka to a World Cup semi-final. [She is the only captain to lead Sri Lanka to an Asia Cup win, however]. In this innings she seemed intent on at least keeping Sri Lanka alive in the tournament. She drilled her first ball through cover and walloped eight further boundaries in the powerplay, peppering the legside boundaries in particular.

Her pace barely relented when the field went back. She reached 50 off the 29th ball she faced, and continued to clobber Ireland’s bowlers. Her slog-swept six off Cara Murray in the ninth over was the 100th of her career. The square leg, cover and straight regions were her favourite hitting zones, and though Prendergast managed occasionally to slow her down, she went to triple figures off the 58th delivery she faced, having lionised strike right throughout. By the end of Sri Lanka’s innings, she had hit 79% of their runs.

Gaby Lewis revives Ireland

It was not until the 14th ball of the innings that Ireland managed a run off the bat. By that stage, they had already lost two wickets. Rebecca Stokell attempted to shock Ireland into motion with boundaries down the ground, but after she was dismissed in the fifth over, Lewis found her timing. She hit her first boundary – a pulled four – off the last ball of the powerplay and would continue to find the pull shot productive through the course of her innings. She was also strong square of the wicket on the off side.

She was joined in a 66-run fourth-wicket stand by Leah Paul, who hit 20 off 41. Lewis got to a half-century after Paul was dismissed, but was visibly drained from the effort in hot conditions by British standards. She faded late in the innings, but Ireland had Alice Tector to help give the innings a final push, with 28 off 21.

Kaushini shines behind the stumps again

Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper-batter Kaushini Nuthyangana has been having a sparkling tournament so far, and did not take long to impose herself in this match. When Ireland’s openers took off for a leg bye first over, Nuthyangana swooped on the ball, turned, and threw down the stumps to catch Amy Hunter centimetres short. After a straightforward stumping to remove Prendergast, she also anticipated a scoop from Leah Paul, which she intercepted to pluck another wicket out of the air.

Scores:
Sri Lanka Women 134 for 1 in 15.3 overs  (Chamari Athapaththu 106*, Imesha Dulani 20; Orla  Prendergast 1-22) beat Ireland Women  130 for 5 in 20 overs (Gaby Lewis 59, Rebecca Stokell 13, Leah Paul 20, Alice Tector 28*; Mithali Ayodhya 1-18, Sugandika Kumari 1-26, Chamari Athapaththu 1-23, Nilakshika Silva 1-12) by nine wickets

[Cricinfo]