Call her the man among women, the fairy godmother of budding young girls dreaming of fame and fortune or presently the queen of Sri Lanka sports.
But Princess Charming Chamari Atapattu has not stopped turning heads ever since she made an epic 195 against South Africa last month that put her among the world’s elite women on the cricket field.
On Wednesday her club Chilaw Marians was over-the-moon as it hosted her to a felicitation where she revealed that Sri Lanka’s triumph at the 1996 World Cup was all that she needed as a child in her quest for greatness.
“I was just six years old in front of the television watching Sri Lanka play against Australia in the World Cup final and I never even realized Sri Lanka had a team also playing women’s cricket”, said Chamari.
Two of the iconic players from the team that won the 1996 World Cup, Aravinda de Silva and Sanath Jayasuriya, were at hand to join in her felicitation held at the Taj Samudra Hotel in Colombo where many of her team-mates at Chilaw Marians jostled to pose for photographs.
Modest in her off-field conduct, Chamari did not hide the fact that she will never be carried away by celebrations or pompous fanfare and what mattered most were her on-field achievements and the role model she could be to a rising number of girls caught up in a current surge in women’s cricket.
“What matters is not the importance of money, but the honour in representing your country that you will have to put ahead of all other interests.
“Cricket is my passion and there are so many young girls out there who want to be like me. I have the privilege of inspiring them,” she confessed.
By the age of six Chamari was hitting plastic and tennis balls thrown at her by her parents and by the age of seven she lost all her fear of the hard cricket ball while being a pupil at Gokarella Maha Vidyalaya in the Kurunegala district before crossing over to Ibbagamuwa Central College.
But a nomadic life began for her after leaving school as she enrolled at Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club and later found membership at the Colombo Colts Cricket Club that had more space for women.
As she blossomed and showed promise, Air Force talent scouts grabbed her but her final calling was at Chilaw Marians where a godfather named Godfrey Dabrera saw the angel in her in 2017 and Chamari has today converted a massive host of young girls to take to cricket and they flocked in their numbers showing solidarity.
Statistically Chamari’s achievements at club and Sri Lanka level are too numerous to mention and nobody else can even come second on her list of laurels and accolades.
At 34, she has featured in a 101 ODI matches and 131 T20s and according to statistics 80 per cent of Sri Lanka’s wins in women’s cricket have been attributed to her presence.
But Chamari being Chamari will take nothing away from her Sri Lanka team-mates.
“I would not have come his far if not for my team-mates in the Sri Lanka team”, she declared.
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