SL women eye series-levelling win against Pakistan

COLOMBO: When Sri Lanka Women enter the battlefield on Thursday to take on Pakistan in the second One-Day International, not only will they be looking to keep the series alive, the bigger picture will be on opening their account in the ICC Women’s Championship table.

Sri Lanka languish at the bottom with four losses in four matches and are the only side yet to register a win. Their issues in the batting department appear to be far from being over as they failed to touch 200 once again having failed to cross that landmark in the previous three games against Windies in the Caribbean.

More importantly, their over-reliance on their two big stars - Chamari Athapaththu and Shashikala Siriwardene, was once again clearly evident in the first game. The duo top-scored with 46 and 44 respectively while none of the other batters managed to touch 20. They also shared four of the six wickets that fell in the Pakistan innings which highlights the need for the rest to step up in this crucial encounter.

Pakistan will be buoyed with their win that has helped them leapfrog England and South Africa to reach the fifth spot in the table but with bigger challenges awaiting them in the future, the visitors will look to collect maximum points from the two games left in this series.

Despite putting up an allround show with the ball during the run chase, Pakistan will be slightly concerned about their batters.Apart from the centurion Javeria Khan who remained unbeaten until the end, the rest failed to fire around her.

If not for useful contributions from batters lower down the order, Pakistan would have struggled to reach 200 as they were reeling at 72/4 at one stage. If the rest of the main batters click this time around, it’s safe to say that Sri Lanka’s task will only get tougher.

Teams (from): Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu(c), Prasadani Weerakkody, Dilani Manodara, Nipuni Hansika, Hasini Perera, Rebeca Vandort, Chamari Polgampola, Shashikala Siriwardene, Ama Kanchana, Achini Kulasuriya, Sripali Weerakkody, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadharshani.

Pakistan: Nahida Khan, Sidra Ameen, Javeria Khan, Bismah Maroof (c), Muneeba Ali, Sidra Nawaz, Sana Mir, Nida Dar, Kainat Imtiaz, Natalia Pervaiz, Nashra Sandhu, Ghulam Fatima, Diana Baig, Aiman Anwer, Fareeha Mehmood.