Chamari Atapattu proved too much for her counterparts in the West Indies as she blew them apart making a top score of 91 with 10 fours and two sixes in 106 balls as Sri Lanka won the third and final ODI to sweep the series 3-0 at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Hambantota on Friday.
Atapattu who has been unstoppable on most occasions in the recent past ensured Sri Lanka made a total of 275 for 6 in 50 overs and then had the Windies women all at sea to win by 160 runs marking one of the biggest wins by the Sri Lanka women’s cricket team.
Chamari Atapattu (right) and Vishmi Gunaratne run between the wickets during their 93-run opening stand that set the course for victory
Together with the promising teenager Vishmi Gunaratne, Atapattu helped Sri Lanka in a first wicket stand of 93 runs. Gunaratne’s contribution was 44 after she made 50 in the second match.
Gunaratne continued with her great form throughout the series scoring over 40 runs in the three innings she batted.
Atapattu was later joined by Nilakshi de Silva who together resurrected the innings adding 57 runs for the fourth wicket.
For Atapattu it was her 17th ODI half century and missed out on what would have been her well-deserved tenth century with nine already under her belt to go with two hundreds and 10 centuries in T20 Internationals.
After Atapattu’s dismissal, Nilakshi de Silva and Anushka Sanjeewani continued to batter the West Indies women adding 117 runs off 93 deliveries that helped Sri Lanka to put up a formidable total of 275 for six wickets.
In reply, the West Indies women cut a sorry picture unable to recover from the hammering and folded up for just 115 runs as left arm spinner Sachini Nisansala showed her quality to grab five wickets for just 28 runs in only 5.5 overs.
She walked away with the Player of the Match prize while Vishmi Gunaratne was adjudged the player of the series.
Scores:
Sri Lanka: 275/6 (50) (Chamari Atapattu 91, Nilakshika Silva 63, Anushka Sanjeewani 55, Vishmi Gunaratne 44, Karishma Ramharack 2/46)
West Indies: 115 (34.5) (Chedean Nation 46, Aaliyah Alleyne 27, Sachini Nisansala 5/28, Oshadi Ranasinghe 2/14)
