Nat Sciver Brunt’s 10th WODI hundred and a four-wicket haul from Sophie Ecclestone helped England brush past a spirited if flawed Sri Lankan side in Colombo completing a dominant 89-run win, as they made it three wins in three at the World Cup – and with it go top of the group. It was Sri Lanka’s second defeat in as many games, though they have a point on board courtesy their washed out game against Australia.

Here, Sri Lanka were up against it with just 17 runs on the board when Chamari Athapaththu was stretchered off the ground  after she pulled up with what looked like hamstring strain in the sixth over of the chase. It was later revealed to be nothing more than cramps impacting her right calf, allowing her to bat later in the innings, but at that point Sri Lanka might have been fearing the worst.

As it transpired the rest of Sri Lanka’s top order responded admirably. Vishmi Gunaratne struck consecutive boundaries off Lauren Bell to kickstart the chase, but before she could do any real damage she was done in by a ripper from Charlie Dean, turning sharply through bat and pad.

This brought Harshitha Samarawickrama to join Hasini Perera in the middle, and the pair set about stitching together Sri Lanka’s best partnership of the innings – 58 off 66. During this period, you wouldn’t have blamed the boisterous crowd, one filled with several young fans, from entertaining thoughts of a famous victory.

Sri Lanka had moved to 89 for 1 after 18 overs by the time Ecclestone – the number one ranked bowler in WODIs – was brought into the attack, but it wasn’t until her second over that she would begin to tighten her stranglehold on the game.

The first to go was Perera, who chipped one to straight to mid-on. That over would be a wicket maiden – one of three maidens she would bowl – as Ecclestone proceeded to almost singlehandedly end Sri Lanka’s chase.

Such was her impact she ended up bowling her entire 10 overs in a single spell, during the course of which she picked up the wickets of pretty much the entire Sri Lankan top order.

Samarawickrama was the next to fall, top edging a sweep off Ecclestone to short fine. Kavisha Dilhari then missed an arm ball, before arrived the coup de grace – one that dipped and turned, luring the recovered Athapaththu into a drive, before turning it viciously through bat and pad to crash into the stumps.

That last wicket silenced the crowd for good, and the remaining wickets fell with little fuss – even Sciver-Brunt was able to get in on the action, rounding out her day with the wickets of Anushka Sanjeewani and Dewmi Vihanga. Sri Lanka eventually folded for 164.

It was the proverbial icing on the cake for Sciver-Brunt who had earlier been on a one-woman mission to help her side overcome a tough pitch and Sri Lanka’s army of spinners.

England were helped by a host of misfields littered throughout their innings, though perhaps the defining moment occurred in the 14th over.

Sciver-Brunt was on three at the time, when she whipped one from Inoka Ranaweera hard and straight to Udeshika Prabodhani at midwicket, who just couldn’t hold on. It was the only drop of the innings, but ended up costing Sri Lanka north of 100 runs.

England had started strong, going at around five an over in the opening powerplay, thanks to Tammy Beaumont’s 32 off 29, but an ill-advised single saw the back of Amy Jones before Beaumont herself sliced one high to point.

From that point on though Sciver-Brunt was the common denominator as England strung together a spate of partnerships through the middle overs.

The highest was 60 from 73 between Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight, a stand that had threatened to take the game away from Sri Lanka as the pair worked the field expertly, utilising deft sweeps and dabs, allied with calculated risks over the infield.

The partnership was broken against the run of play as Knight gloved a reverse-sweep to slip. It was given not out on the field, but keeper Sanjeewani petitioned heavily for the review to be taken – and it was eventually, with just two seconds on the clock.

That wasn’t Sanjeewani’s only intervention, as she also effected two sharp stumpings and helped complete a run out, in what was a consummate day out.

Like against India, Ranaweera once more shifted the momentum of the innings, this time through a jarring intervention in the 35th over. Emma Lamb was first bowled around her legs, before a sharp bit of glove work from Sanjeewani saw Alice Capsey short of her crease after she had been deceived in the flight.

Suddenly from 141 for 3 in the 31st over, England found themselves 168 for 6 a little over three overs later.

Prior to this England had been eyeing up a total in excess of 270 but just as they had been looking to accelerate, they had to hold back. It meant that between the 40th and 48th over just two boundaries were struck, as England and Sciver-Brunt prioritised inching the total up to decent territory, if not imposing.

The first real show of intent at the death came in the penultimate over, when Sciver-Brunt struck a sumptuous inside-out six over extra cover – to bring up her century – and followed it up with another loft down the ground.

The final two overs brought more runs, as England struck 28 runs in that patch to boost their total past the 250-mark, and in the end it proved to be more than enough.

Brief scores:
England Women 253 for 9 in 50 overs (Tammy Beaumont 32, Heather Knight 29, Nat Sciver-Brunt 117; Udeshika Prabodhani 2-55, Sugandika Kumari 2-66, Inoka  Ranaweera 3-33, Kavisha Dilhari 1-34) beat Sri Lanka Women  164 in 45.4 overs  (Hasini Perera 35, Harshitha Samarawickrema 33, Nilakshika Silva 23; Sophie Ecclestone 4-17, Nat Sciver-Brunt 2-25, Charlie Rean 2-47) by 89 runs

[Cricinfo]