ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup  Playing two of the toughest teams at the start is beneficial to us – Athapaththu

• Aussies say Sri Lankan spinners will be biggest threat 

Captain Chamari Athapaththu, the only  Sri Lankan to score a century against Australia

Australia women’s opening batter Phoebe Litchfield

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Of all the teams taking part in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, Sri Lanka has the toughest two matches to start their campaign.

They played host nation India in their first outing at Guwahati and lost it by 59 runs (DLS method) due to fielding errors and a stumble in their middle order batting. Today they confront the defending champions Australia at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, which is going to be no easy game either, but Captain Chamari Athapaththu relishes the challenge.

“It’s really good for us to start against the strongest teams in the competition because after that we are coming up against teams like South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh whom we have beaten in the last 12-15 months. Playing the strong sides first gives us the opportunity to prepare well and learn from our mistakes. We are playing on home soil and we have a little bit of advantage, but at the end of the day we have to play our best cricket.”

“We know tomorrow we are playing against the top team, the world champions. Australia is one of the best teams in this tournament. They have an experienced bowling and batting line up. If we can execute the right plans at the right time I know we can beat any team. Execution is the most important thing rather than skill and mindset. We are in a good mindset to play our best cricket. If we can play our best cricket we can change anything.”

Sri Lanka and Australia will be playing in a WODI after six years.

“We played our last WODI against Australia in 2019 at Brisbane where I scored a hundred. Since then we have never played them because of COVID-19 and Australia were not in our cycle,” said Athapaththu at the pre-match media conference yesterday.

“Our preparation is good although we have not played any international games for the past 2-3 months. We also had a good domestic season. Sometimes as captain I can’t control those things. What I can control is my batting and bowling and my players’ mindset. We started the game against India very well but in the middle part we dropped a few catches and struggled in the middle overs. If we can improve on those areas I know we can give a good fight to the Aussies.”

Athapaththu said that in a tournament of this magnitude Sri Lanka cannot afford to make silly mistakes like they did against India.

“The players have to take responsibility and they are answerable. This World Cup is the chance for our girls to put their hands up and perform because we are playing in our own conditions. There were strong discussions that took place between selectors, coaches and players after the match against India. The players have some pressure on them. What is important is how they play under pressure, otherwise, we cannot go far in this tournament.”     

Australia’s opening batter Phoebe Litchfield said ‘there’s a beauty in the unknown at times’ when asked of her team’s approach against Sri Lanka as they had not met for quite a long time.

“I think the last time we played them was in the T20 World Cup last year, and it’s a similar side. So, we’ve played them before, but I guess the beauty of a World Cup is you play every different side, and you have to prepare. You don’t really get time to learn. You’ve got to come out firing. And yeah, new conditions here as well. So, there’s a lot of challenges. But I think our group’s got some awesome heads on our shoulders and are able to assess conditions and adapt to whatever that’s thrown at us.”

Litchfield said the Sri Lankan spinners would be their biggest threat.

“Their opening bowlers pose a threat, but I think their spin attack is where their work gets done. They’ve got four spinners that are completely different to each other. I think coming out here and seeing how it spins, that’ll probably be the biggest threat to us. Being able to adapt and play their spin really well because most of the middle overs are spin. And then, assessing that condition, if it’s spinning, if it’s not. Then hopefully, bowling really well on the flip side for us. We’ve got a pretty good side as well.”

Australia is coming into today’s game having smashed the New Zealand bowling for 326 runs in their opening fixture played at Indore.