Saturday Nov 29, 2025
Saturday Nov 29, 2025
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Vishmi Gunaratne and Chamari Athapaththu gave Sri Lanka a solid foundation with an opening stand of 101
Hasini Perera played a tempered knock in the middle overs
Nilakshika Silva blitzed through the death overs to score the fastest 50 of the tournament
The gloomy scene at the R. Premadasa Stadium after rain washed out play at the end of the Sri Lanka innings
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Sri Lanka produced their best batting performance in the ongoing ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, racking up an impressive 258-6 against New Zealand, but their fine effort with the bat ran into weather so foul that only one innings was completed at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium yesterday when the umpires decided to call off the contest, forcing a No-Result.
Heavy rain, which began during the innings break, left certain sections of the outfield inundated with pools of water despite the ground staff’s valiant attempt to have the entire ground covered.
The result meant that Sri Lanka and New Zealand shared the two points. For Sri Lanka, it was the second time they had suffered this calamity. They had their match against Australia washed out without a ball bowled at the same venue 10 days ago.
Sri Lanka remained in seventh position with 2 points from four matches, and New Zealand in fifth with 3 points from the same number of matches.
Sri Lanka’s batting, which has been found wanting in the matches against India and England which they lost, finally came good with Nilakshika Silva lighting up the stage with the fastest fifty of the tournament off just 26 balls, beating the 34-ball mark set by Shorna Akter of Bangladesh against South Africa on Monday. She also broke her own Sri Lanka record for the fastest fifty in WODIs off 28 balls against India at the same venue in May this year.
Silva came in at the fall of the fifth wicket at 198 and started hitting the ball beautifully from the word go, ending up with 55* off 28 balls (7 fours, 1 six). She ran riot in the final 10 overs that produced 81 runs against New Zealand, who had a sloppy day on the field, missing more than a couple of opportunities.
The platform for Silva was set by the batters who came before her. Vishmi Gunaratne and skipper Chamari Athapaththu set the stage for the innings with the second opening partnership in the current tournament – 101 off 139 balls. Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal put together 155 for India against Australia on Sunday.
Athapaththu went on to complete her 20th WODI half-century before being dismissed for 53 off 72 balls (7 fours), 12 short of reaching 4,000 runs in WODI. Gunaratne made a patchy 42 off 83 balls (3 fours), being dropped twice at 26 and 31.
There were contributions from Hasini Perera (44 off 61 balls, 6 fours) and Harshitha Samarawickrama (26 off 31) as well. With wickets in hand, it provided the ideal stage for Silva to unleash her attack on the New Zealand bowlers.
Sri Lanka’s total of 258-6 was their second highest total in Women’s ODI World Cups and the highest total of the World Cup in Colombo.
