A Chamari Athapaththu seven-wicket haul and Nilakshika Silva’s 50 off 35 saw defending champions Sri Lanka withstand a valiant Indonesian side to register a resounding 75-run victory in their Asia Cup match in Dubai.

Athapaththu was undoubtedly the pick of the bowlers, as she started and finished Indonesia’s slide with career best figures of 7 for 05,  inclusive of a hat-trick – nearly two in fact. Chasing a target of 125, the opening pair of Maria Corazon and Rahmawati Pangestuti struck 16 runs in the first two overs, but once spin came into play scoring slowed down to a trickle and Indonesia were eventually bowled out for 49 in the 19th over.

Sri Lanka, too, had found it tough to combat Indonesia’s mix of spin and slow-medium seamers as they stumbled to 62 for 6 in the 13th over, but their innings received a timely boost as Nilakshika countered with a trademark back-against-the-wall effort to drag her side to a total that seemed about par on a pretty sluggish surface. In the end it proved to be plenty.

Sri Lanka struggle early on

Having been put in to bat on a fresh surface, Sri Lanka were perhaps guilty of a little complacency against their less-fancied opponents. Time and again the top order sought to find the boundary, and time and again they failed to find their timing.

On a wicket where the ball was hardly coming on, the Sri Lankan batters’ tunnel vision focused squarely on boundary hitting and eschewed strike rotation; there were 19 dot balls in a powerplay that had fetched 31 runs for the loss of two wickets.

By the halfway point of the innings, the dot count had risen to 28. The scorecard, meanwhile, read 47 for 5. Indonesia, to their credit, did well to bowl to their fields and frustrate the Lankan batters.

Sanjana Kavindi got to double-digits with a pair of nicely struck boundaries, but she was the only one of Sri Lanka’s top five to do so – and she was eventually done in on 15 missing an attempted cut on a straight one.

Nilakshika brings the Silva-lining

With recognised batting fast running out, Sri Lanka needed someone to take control of the innings, and as she has done so often over recent years it was Nilakshika that stood up to be counted.

She first strung together 17 off 18 with Kaushini Nuthyangana, but when Nuthyangana fell Nilakshika produced a masterclass in batting with the tail. She cajoled Kawya Kavindi to keep rotating the strike, and when the opportunity arose she was unerring in finding the boundaries – including Sri Lanka’s first and only six of the innings in the penultimate over.

Their seventh-wicket partnership eventually ended on 50 off 36, reached simultaneously alongside side Nilakshika’s fifty – her third in T20Is – but by then she had already ushered her side to safety.

Athapaththu steals the show

In Chethana Vimukthi, Sri Lanka might have their first ever genuine fast bowler but on a wicket where the ball was not quite coming on, pace never seemed like the answer. For the first two overs of the chase, Indonesia’s openers did well to find boundaries against Vimukthi and and fellow seamer Kawya, but then Sri Lanka introduced their spinners.

Athapaththu promptly castled Pangestuti before removing Corazon and Rada Rani off consecutive deliveries in her next over. Here she missed her hat-trick by a whisker, a yorker narrowly missing Desi Wulandari’s off stump.

She brought herself back into the attack in the 14th and removed Nanda Sakarini, and she capped things off by achieving her hat-trick at the second time of asking, taking three wickets off what proved to be the final three deliveries of the innings.

Scores:
Sri Lanka Women  124 for 7  in 20 overs (Sanjana Kavindi 15, Nilakshika Silva 50, Kawya Kavindi 15*; Ni Ariani 1-23, Sang Maypriani 2-15, Ni Luh Dewi 3-32, Sofia Velic 1-21) beat   Indonesia Women  49 all out in 18.3 overs (Rahmawati Pangestudi 10, Ni Made Putri Suwandevi 12; Kavya Kavindi 1-14, Sugandika Kumari 1-03,  Chamari Athapaththu 7-05, Kavisha Dilhari 1-02) by 75 runs

[Cricinfo]

‎School athletes claiming podium positions at the Western Province Schools Games will receive medals for the first time in more than half a decade this year.

‎”Medals will be awarded to winners of all sports this time, whether it is team sports or individual events,” said Upali Amaratunga, Additional Provincial Director of Education, in an interview with The Island.

‎The Island has been highlighting the importance of awarding medals at the Western Province Schools Games ever since authorities abandoned the cherished tradition in the wake of financial constraints earlier this decade.

‎While almost all other provinces awarded medals at their annual events, Western Province authorities had either blamed the lapse on a lack of funds or simply avoided the question whenever it was raised in recent years.

‎Provincial Schools Games are part of the All-Island Schools Games. Home to the highest number of schools in the country, competition in the Western Province is fiercely contested.
‎The track and field events of the Western Province Schools Games are scheduled to commence at Diyagama next week.

(RF)

Muneeba Ali braved the oppressive heat of Dubai before Pakistan’s  spinners put on a disciplined show to begin their T20 Asia Cup campaign with a commanding win over Thailand. The result knocked Thailand out of the competition as they suffered their second defeat in three matches.

On a pitch which stayed low, Fatima Sana backed her spinners to do the job by opting to bat at the toss, a decision which raised eyebrows at the time. She stood vindicated in the end as Pakistan completed a comfortable 35-run win.

But, it also brought to light Pakistan’s perennial batting woes as they managed only 119 for 9 in 20 overs despite Sana harbouring hopes of her side going beyond 150. Thailand never stood a chance of chasing the target against Pakistan’s quality spin attack and finished with 84-8 in 20 overs.

There was anticipation in the lead up to this contest as to whether the Thai left-arm orthodox bowler would surpass India’s Deepti Sharma as the highest wicket taker in the format. Thipatcha Putthawong did not make the spectators wait as she achieved the feat with a double-wicket maiden in the second over of the game.

Putthawong sent back Shawaal Zulfiqar on the second ball with the one that gripped off a length. It had Zulfiqar punch the ball right into the midriff of Suleeporn Laomi at point. Four balls later, she got her landmark wicket when Gull Feroza, back into the Pakistan side after missing the Sri Lanka T20Is, was caught at fine leg while playing the paddle.

That over tightened the screws on the Pakistan batters as they struggled to get going throughout the powerplay, which they finished with 32 for 3. Putthawong and Phannita Maya shared the six overs between themselves but it was the former’s figures of 3-0-21-1 that stood out.

Ayesha Zafar was the third batter to fall inside the powerplay, courtesy an outstanding catch by Natthakan Chantham at midwicket off Maya’s bowling.

Putthawong added another wicket to her tally in the last over of the innings. She now has 173 wickets in the format at a staggering average of 9.17 and economy of 4.11.

As has often been the case, the onus of doing the repair work fell on Muneeba, who opened the innings with Zulfiqar. She saw partners fall before putting together a solid partnership of 54 runs with Shamas.

Shamas picked up boundaries through point and wide of slip in her first four balls to kick the innings into gear. It helped Muneeba, who was struggling for breath because of the harsh Dubai weather, settle down. Muneeba often fell on her haunches to gather her breath and, at one point, had to be tended to by the team physio.

Conditions were tough for batting with the pitch playing slow and low, and the outfield being heavier than usual for a T20 game. Muneeba, nonetheless, continued to fight until the death overs and registered her fourth half-century. She finished with 54 off 52 with four boundaries and was stumped off Laomi’s bowling in the 17th over.

Shamas, who found herself in the main squad because of an injury to Najiha Alvi, made a crucial run-a-ball 20 to stop the floodgates. But her wicket, also to Laomi, re-opened the floodgates.

Laomi takes two in an over

Pakistan fans must have taken solace in the fact that Shamas was replaced by their captain, who had been at the top of her game in the T20 World Cup this year. But Sana had a brief stay at the crease. She was caught and bowled, second ball, as Laomi took a stunning catch diving forward. Both wickets fell in the 13th over of the innings. It was the second time in the innings that Pakistan lost two in an over.

Laomi varied her lengths and pace with great deception to finish as the best bowler for her side with 3-14 from four overs.

The average first-innings score at this venue in the women’s T20Is is 118, and that Pakistan managed one more was because of Tuba’s 12* off only four balls. She announced her arrival at the crease, amidst a flurry of wickets, with a gigantic six over square leg. She then hit a boundary through the covers in the last over.

Thailand might have harboured hopes of repeating the heroics from the 2022 edition of the T20 Asia Cup when they beat Pakistan. But they were eviscerated in Sadia Iqbal’s first over, the second of the run chase, as she sent back Maya and Nannapat Koncharoenkai.

Coincidentally, this over, like the second over of the first innings, ended up as a double-wicket maiden, and the two wickets in both these overs came on the second and last ball of the over across the innings.

Thailand needed one of their batters to emulate Muneeba, but they were starved of runs by Pakistan’s disciplined bowling and attacking field sets. They stood no chance at chasing the total down with the required run rate climbing every over.

The introduction of Nashra Sandhu after the powerplay further aggravated Thailand’s woes as the left-arm spinner allowed only six runs from her four overs, she picked up Chantham as well. Iqbal returned for the last over of the innings and picked up a wicket on the last ball to finish with 3 for 11 from four overs.

That Pakistan were able to secure a win despite a subpar batting performance was partly because they played a weaker opposition. But, their next opponents, India, are not likely to provide them much of a leeway.

Scores:
Pakistan Women 119 for 9 in 20 overs (Muneeba Ali  54, Sadaf Shamas 20, Umm e Hani 17, Tuba Hassan 12*;  Phannita Maya 2-34, ; Thipatcha  Putthawong 3-18, Sunida Chaturongrattana 1-23, Suleeporn Laomi 3-14) beat  Thailand Women 84/8 in 20 overs (Naththakan Chantham 14, Naruemol Chaiwai 17, Aphisara Suwanchonrathi 13,  Chanida Sutthiruang 25; Fatima Sana 1-22, Sadia  Iqbal 3-11, Nashra Sandhu 1-06, Tuba Hasan  2-17) by 35 runs

[Cricinfo]