Chamari Athapaththu hit six sixes in an unbeaten 50-ball 83 to lead Sri Lanka into the final of the Asian Games Women’s Cricket Competition. Her innings helped Sri Lanka equal their highest total in a successful chase,  after fifties from Shawaal Zulfiqar and Ayesha Zafar had helped Pakistan set them a target of 178.

Athapaththu was quiet at the start of her innings, and she could afford it because her opening partner Imesha Dulani gave Sri Lanka immediate impetus in their chase, hitting five fours in the first four overs before falling for a tone-setting 21-ball 27. At that point, Athapaththu was batting on 4 off 9. By the end of the powerplay, she had moved to 7 off 12, and hadn’t hit a single boundary.

The change of gear took place in a 20-run eighth over, in which she tonked Momina Riasat for 6, 4, 6, 4. The second six was a fortuitous one, a slog-sweep that Fatima Sana caught at deep midwicket only to step on the rope while attempting to toss the ball back into the field of play. A clean catch would have sent Athapaththu back for 18 off 19 balls.

Instead, the left-handed Athapaththu continued to take full toll of her match-up against left-arm spin, hitting two fours and a six off Nashra Sandhu in the 10th over to bring the equation down to 90 off 60 balls.

It was still far from straightforward, but Sri Lanka were unstoppable, with Hasini Perera catching up with her captain’s rate of scoring by hitting Tuba Hassan for two sixes and a four in the 13th over. Hasini fell at the end of the 14th over for a 26-ball 42, having put on 95 with Athapaththu in 56 balls.

When Hasini fell, Sri Lanka needed 47 off 36 balls; Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama needed just 23 of those balls to finish the job.

Sent in to bat, Pakistan posted their highest-ever T20I total against Sri Lanka, but they may have ended their innings feeling they had left a few runs out in the middle. Zulfiqar scored her second T20I half-century, but her 54 consumed as many as 50 balls. The impetus for Pakistan’s total came from Zafar, who came in at No. 4 and smacked 71 off just 40 balls, hitting nine fours and two sixes.

Zafar and Zulfiqar put on 115 for the third wicket in 70 balls, and nearly all the heavy hitting came from one end, with Zulfiqar contributing 37 off 30 to the partnership.

Scores:
Sri Lanka Women 178 for 2 in 17.5 overs (Imesha Dulani 27, Chamari Athapaththu 83*, Hasini Perera  42, Harshitha Samarawickrema 17*; Fatima Sana 1-24, Nashra Sandhu 1-38) beat Pakistan Women  177 for 4 ( Shawaal Zulfiqar 54, Saira Jabeen 17, Ayesha Zafar 71, Fatima Sana 20*; Sugandika Kumari 1-31, Chamari Athapaththu 1-30, Kavya Kavindi 1-13 ) by eight wickets

[Cricinfo]

Sri Lanka hold a slight edge over Pakistan  heading into Sunday’s semi-final, although contests between the two sides have generally been close in this format. Their most recent meeting came in the Asia Cup semi-final, where Sri Lanka overcame Pakistan despite an all-round threat from Fatima Sana.

In the Asian Games quarter-final, Pakistan were pushed hard again, surviving a Thailand scare  in a rain-affected chase of 92. They slipped to 47 for 4 before Sana came to their rescue, reinforcing the reliance on captain when their batting has faltered

Sri Lanka saved their most dismal batting performance of the series for last as they were bowled out for 124, a target which England knocked off in just 9.4 overs. The result secured a 3-0 series sweep, and subjected Sri Lanka to a 15th consecutive loss in T20Is against England, who regained the ICC No. 1 ranking from India in the process.

It was Harry Brook and Jos Buttler  once more in the thick of the chase, speeding to an 85-run partnership off just 39 deliveries. It meant that by the end of the powerplay England had comfortably squared away more than half of Sri Lanka’s total, as they surged to 82 for 1. By the end of the eighth over the 100 had come up, and not long after the chase was complete.

Buttler, fresh off reaching 15,000 T20 runs in the second T20I, racked up 62 more – off 32 deliveries – as he saw home the chase with a single-handed six over square leg. It was a fitting end to the series – England could have indeed wrapped this up with one hand behind their back.

Sri Lanka’s only moments of levity were when Aneurin Donald was stumped off Tharindu Ratnayake, and later a direct hit to run out Brook.

The visitors had brought in slinger Nuwan Thushara for Dushmantha Chameera but it made little difference with such a paltry total to defend. In any case he haemorrhaged 29 in a two-over spell, though his seam-bowling partners fared not much better; Eshan Malinga was hit for 34 in his 1.4 overs, while Dilshan Madushanka gave away 23 in two.

It was a display of batting that showcased precisely why this same surface had produced a total of 304 for England batting first against South Africa just last year. It also brought into sharp contrast Sri Lanka’s effort which had seen them plumb to the lowest first-innings T20I total at Old Trafford since 2018.

In the Lankan innings, it was once more Pathum Nissanka that provided any sort of spark during a brisk 36 off 24, and then as wickets fell in clumps Kamindu Mendis matched him with a 28-ball 35. But apart from those two acts of defiance, it was a veritable procession as England locked up run-scoring avenues and picked up wickets with alarming regularity.

With a heavy breeze blowing across the stadium there was considerable incentive to target one side of the ground, but Sri Lanka could only make use of the conditions sporadically. And even on the occasions they did clear the ropes, they were unable to supplement it sufficiently; of the seven sixes scored in the innings only on one occasion was there another boundary scored in that over, while on two occasions a wicket followed shortly after. And of the seven overs in which Sri Lanka scored sixes, only three produced a double-digit scoring rate.

(Cricinfo)