Kaushalya sets up historic win for Sri Lanka
Until today, Sri Lanka Women had never beaten any of the big four
sides - Australia, England, India, and New Zealand. They chose to start
with the biggest scalp of them all, on the biggest stage of them all.
There have been some huge upsets in men’s World Cup history, but a
defending champion going down first match against one of the weakest
teams has to rank on par, if not above them.
The powerfully-built seam-bowling allrounder Eshani Kaushalya set up
a nerve-shredder of a last-ball result with an unrelenting assault, her
strong forearms responding to her unshakeable belief, and drilling
boundary after boundary past, and over, helpless England fielders. The
match had been Sri Lanka’s to lose, when they needed 97 runs to win with
nine wickets remaining. But England, having already fought back earlier
with the bat, were up for another scrap.
They started striking, and Sri Lanka, known for losing steam after
promising openings, started falling apart. Even as her team-mates kept
coming and going, Kaushalya, strapping shoulders and arms to match, took
Sri Lanka closer.
The asking-rate was already more than a run a ball when she came in
at No. 6 with 82 more required. And it wasn’t until her 11th delivery
that she found the boundary, when she swung Hally Colvin to the deep
midwicket rope. She was on 3 off 10 before the shot. She was to take 53
off her next 31.
A couple of straight sixes against the spinners arrived, followed by
consecutive fours to wide long-off against Arran Brindle. In the same
over, the 46th, Brindle took out Sri Lanka’s seventh wicket.
In the 47th, and her last, Katherine Brunt, the premier England fast
bowler, conceded just four. The asking-rate had touched ten when
Kaushalya exploded, taking 16 off the 48th bowled by Jenny Gunn. Gunn
had top-scored for England with 52, but had put down Kaushalya on 10 at
wide long-on in the 43rd over.
Kaushalya made Gunn pay dearly for that drop and some low full
tosses. A misfield at mid-on produced three, and got Kaushalya on
strike. She cracked three of the next four deliveries for fours,
targetting wide long-off and extra cover again. With 13 needed off the
final two overs, Sri Lanka were now ahead.
But the defending champions didn’t give up. Danielle Hazell gave just
four in the 49th, and took a wicket, leaving Sri Lanka to get nine off
the last over. Kaushalya came on strike second ball, and promptly
dispatched Georgia Elwiss over the deep square-leg rope. Kaushalya
jumped for joy, and the celebrations had started in the Sri Lanka camp.
On the third ball, Kaushalya mishit high in the air and rushed for a
single, only for the bowler to drop the catch close to the non-striker’s
stumps, and for England to put in a desperate, unsuccessful appeal for
obstruction. In her own desperation to earn the remaining run needed for
victory, Kaushalya charged up too far fourth ball and was run out for 56
off 41.
The wicketkeeper Dilani Manodara found backward point off the fifth
ball as Charlotte Edwards ordered every England fielder inside the
circle.
With a tie looming, Manodara got a good length final delivery, sent
it soaring over deep midwicket and went down screaming on her knees as
her team-mates mobbed her.
Although Kaushalya and Manodara got them over the line, it wasn’t to
take away anything from the century-opening stand between Yasoda Mendis
and Chamari Atapattu, the latter especially surprising England with an
aggressive mindset from the beginning. Pulling, driving, sweeping,
cutting, steering her way to 62 off 72, Atapattu brought the game alive
again, after it seemed England had escaped to a challenging score.
The stage was set for the captain Shashikala Siriwardene to be
counted with a brisk 34, and for Kaushalya to perform the act of her
career and overcome England’s second fightback on the day.
The first had been necessitated when, after being asked to bat,
England were stuttering at 29 for 3.
Edwards had walked across to be bowled by Kaushalya, and Danielle
Wyatt and Lydia Greenway had gone leg-before to the tossed-up deliveries
of Chamani Seneviratna. Brindle and Heather Knight made thirties to
steady things with several easy singles, helped by Siriwardene keeping
three, largely idle fielders in the deep on the leg side.
A needless run-out ended that partnership and brought Gunn to the
middle. Gunn and the keeper Amy Jones, debuting in place of the injured
Sarah Taylor, pushed the score towards 200. England took 79 off the
final seven overs, helped by some big hitting from Brunt and Hazell.
The late push seemed to have given England enough cushion; Kaushalya
was to push harder.
England 238-8 in 50 overs (Jenny Gunn 52, Amy Jones 41, Heather
Knight 38, Arran Brindle 31; Chamani Seneviratna 2-35, Eshani Kaushalya
2-49, Shashikala Siriwardene 2-62)
Sri Lanka 244-9 in 50 overs (Chamari Atapattu 62, Eshani Kaushalya
56, Yasoda Mendis 46, Shashikala Siriwardene 34; Katherine Brunt 2-36,
Georgia Elwiss 2-39, Arran Brindle 2-38)
Courtesy : Crininfo
[Congrats from Gwen]
Former President of the Women’s Cricket Association of Sri Lanka Gwen
Herat has sent a congratulatory message to the Sri Lanka cricket team on
their historic win over defending world champions England in an ICC
Women’s World Cup first round match played in India yesterday.
During her tenure as President she did a lot to promote women’s
cricket in the country and got the WCASL affiliated to Sri Lanka Cricket
(SLC) |