June 24th 2024.
On a sunny Monday afternoon at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sri Lanka's women's team achieved a historic victory over West Indies in the first T20I match. Led by Chamari Athapaththu's career-best bowling performance and an impressive spell from offspinner Inoshi Priyadharshani, the home team secured their first win against West Indies in this format since 2015.
Athapaththu and Priyadharshani were the stars of the match, taking a total of seven wickets and restricting West Indies to a score of 134 for 8. In response, Sri Lanka's batters put on a solid performance, with four wickets and eight balls to spare, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
The early dismissal of Athapaththu by Hayley Matthews in the third over seemed to give West Indies a slight advantage. However, Vishmi Gunaratne and Harshitha Samarawickrama stepped up to the challenge and built a strong partnership of 46 runs for the second wicket. Gunaratne was the aggressor, hitting six fours in her knock of 35 runs, including an impressive reverse sweep.
Even after Gunaratne's dismissal, Samarawickrama continued to dominate the West Indies bowlers, using her feet to unsettle them and scoring 35 runs. However, her dismissal by Aaliyah Alleyne sparked a bit of a collapse for Sri Lanka, losing three wickets for just 20 runs. But experienced batter Nilakshika Silva remained unbeaten on 17 runs and guided her team to victory.
West Indies, who had been asked to bat first, suffered an early injury scare when their captain Stafanie Taylor injured her leg while returning to her crease in the third over. She had to be stretchered off but bravely returned to the field after the fall of the first wicket in the seventh over. Unfortunately, Matthews' run-a-ball 30 was the highest score for West Indies, as the Sri Lankan spinners, led by Priyadharshani, kept them in check throughout the innings.
Thanks to an enterprising partnership between Alleyne and Afy Fletcher, who scored 33 runs off just 23 balls, West Indies managed to score 35 runs in the last four overs, finishing with a respectable total of 134 for 8.
In the end, it was Sri Lanka who emerged victorious, thanks to a strong batting performance and a disciplined bowling effort. With this win, they have taken a 1-0 lead in the series, after having already won the ODI series 3-0. The second T20I promises to be an exciting match as both teams fight for a series win.
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