Sri Lanka Women cricketers continue dream run in T20Is

• Chamari coming to the party is a huge bonus – Ratnayake

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka Women’s cricket never had it so good in their entire history. Their 2-1 T20I win was their first series triumph over South Africa in any format in the third and final match played at East London on Wednesday.

In what was Sri Lanka’s highest successful run chase of all time in T20I cricket they ran down South Africa’s total of 155-6 with five deliveries remaining to win by four wickets.

The win capped a tremendous run for Sri Lanka in the past 12 months where they have beaten Bangladesh (2-1) and New Zealand (2-1) at home and England (2-1) away in T20I bilateral series, all under the captaincy of Chamari Athapaththu and the watchful eyes of Head Coach Rumesh Ratnayake.

Since Ratnayake took charge of the women’s national team in December 2022, things have certainly started to look up with the girls no longer being rattled by the strength of their opponents or showing the fear of defeat.

“It’s the environment we have created. What has happened in the past, what is our next task? Our next task is winning the small moments. My message was when you do the small things right you see big things happen and can turn it around. That’s how we turned it around,” said Ratnayake.

Sri Lanka lost the first match of the T20I series badly by 79 runs, but bounced back to win the next two and the series by seven wickets and by four wickets.

“They are not scared to make mistakes, that is I think is the belief of the girls. I have seen it grow in the past one year. And everybody is on the same page, the coaches and the players,” said Ratnayake. “Nobody should react in the dressing room for mistakes made on the field. Nobody can bring in negative reactions to mistakes. If somebody makes a mistake nobody says anything. We write it down and sort it out individually or as a group and try to eliminate those small mistakes.”

“At the matches what we’ve got is to win the moment. We have broken it down to one ball, so winning that moment is very important whether it’s in a T20I or an ODI. Whatever happens fearlessness comes in. We are not scared to drop catches, not scared in this environment to make mistakes. You see that in our fielding and batting.”

“We’ve prepared ourselves both physically and mentally. Physically we have skilfully enhanced ourselves. We knew where we were strong and where we were weak. There were shots that we played and there were shots we did not play. That is physical skill. Mentally also, I had to make them believe that whatever the opposition does or whatever the world has, you can also get it, if you have that sort of belief.”

Although Sri Lanka won the series, Ratnayake believes that they have a long way to go whereas fielding and bowling is concerned.

“Our fielding and bowling was good only for a certain period of time. I still see there are so many areas on the field and in the bowling that we have to sort out before going in for the 50-over ODI series. We have to be much better than what we did in the T20Is. Execution has not been the best. Since we won I can give some excuses.”

Sri Lanka plays a 50-over practice game against a South African Women’s XI at East London today in preparation for the three-match WODI series which starts on 9 April at East London. The second and third matches are scheduled for 13 and 17 April at Kimberley and Potchefstroom. 

Winning the T20I series would certainly be a morale-booster for the Lankan lasses ahead of the ODI matches, but Ratnayake said that it was no guarantee.

“We did the same thing in England (won the T20I series) and we lost the ODI’s poorly. It’s a different kettle of fish. It’s just that we have to be on our toes more so than what we were in England. More task oriented and have the patience going for longer periods of time. It’s the mindset, but you’ve got to have a good skill set also to back it. It goes hand in glove,” Ratnayake said. “Changing from T20 to 50 overs is not an easy transition. We are trying to bridge that and hoping for the best and giving the girls confidence. South Africa will come at us with a bang and show that we are nothing. We should not succumb to that but be ready to counter it.”

Chamari Athapaththu regaining her form is a plus factor for Sri Lanka ahead of the ODI series. The Lankan skipper struck a 46-ball 73 to lead her team’s victory charge in the third T20I.

“Chamari had a bit of a lapse and a mechanical sort of arrangement in her batting. We spoke about things and looked at it and she worked at it. Chamari coming through is a plus factor. Even though we trained to play without Chamari it will be hard to sustain without her. She has to come in sometime. It’s a huge bonus when Chamari comes to the party. She should go on playing her own game. Even though we sometimes are overawed by her brawn and power, she has a very smart game which supports the team superbly,” said Ratnayake.