Chamari Athapaththu produced a commanding all-round performance to lead the Sri Lanka women’s national cricket team to a four-wicket win over the West Indies women’s national cricket team in the second T20 international of their three-match series at the National Cricket Stadium in Grenada.
Sri Lanka sent the home side in to bat and quickly put them under pressure. West Indies Women, who had been dismissed for just 49 in the rain-affected first match that ended in a no-result, again struggled to build momentum and were bowled out for 101 in their 20 overs.
Captain Hayley Matthews top-scored with a slow-paced 28 off 36 balls, but no other batter managed to pass 15 as Sri Lanka’s spinners dominated.
Athapaththu (2-13) set the tone early, grabbing two wickets, firstly by removing Qiana Joseph for only five and later claiming the key wicket of Matthews to break a promising partnership with Stafanie Taylor.
Malki Madara (3-16) and Nilakshika Silva (3-20) provided strong support, both taking three wickets, as the West Indies innings faltered badly.
After reaching 64 for three, the hosts collapsed, losing their last seven wickets for just 37 runs.
In reply, Sri Lanka took control through a solid 62-run opening stand between Athapaththu and Vishmi Perera. Athapaththu was aggressive from the outset, striking 39 off 26 balls to put the visitors firmly ahead of the required rate.
Although West Indies briefly fought back, with Matthews dismissing Perera and Afy Fletcher trapping Athapaththu lbw soon after, Sri Lanka recovered despite slipping to 74 for five in the 15th over as Harshitha Samarawickrama, Imesha Dulani, and Nilakshiva Silva were dismissed in quick succession.
Kavisha Dilhari then played a composed, unbeaten innings of 18 off 13 balls to guide her team home at 102 for six in 18.1 overs, sealing victory with 11 balls remaining.
Joseph and Fletcher claimed two wickets apiece for the hosts, but their efforts were not enough to prevent Sri Lanka from taking a 1-0 lead in the series.
Athapaththu’s impactful display with both bat and ball earned her Player-of-the-Match honours and put Sri Lanka in a strong position heading into the final game.
