That’s it from today’s coverage of 1st WT20I match between Sri Lanka Women and West Indies Women from the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Hambantota.
Gourav Samal here, is signing off on behalf of my co-commentators Saptak Sanyal and Ayan Chatterjee and scorer/analyst Dushyant Madhukar Kumar. Thank you for joining us. Stay tuned for all cricketing actions around the world. Good bye. Have a good day.
1:20 PM IST and Local Time | That's the end of match. After winning the ODI series, Sri Lanka Women started their T20 campaign against West Indies Women by defeating them by 4 wickets with 8 balls remaining.
Here is a review of what happened in the match. After losing the toss and put into bat first, Hayley Kristen Matthews and Stafanie Taylor opened the Innings for West Indies Women. They faced an early setback as Taylor had to leave the ground due to a hamstring injury. Hayley managed to score 30 from 30 balls while Qiana Joseph scored 20 from 18 balls. Taylor came back to the pitch but could only score 11 from 15 balls before losing her wicket. Aaliyah Alleyne added 26 from 22 balls, while towards the end of the innings, Afy Fletcher remained unbeaten on 14* from 11 balls to help their team score 134/8 in 20 overs. For Sri Lanka Women, skipper Chamari Athapaththu was the pick of the bowlers who took 4/29 in 4 overs. Inoshi Priyadharshani Fernando took 3/28 in 4 overs. Ama Kanchana also picked one wicket in the innings. Chasing a target of 135 runs on the board, Chamari Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne opened the innings for Sri Lanka Women. They faced an early setback as Athapaththu was dismissed for 1 from 8 balls. Gunaratne was then joined by Harshitha Samarawickrama in the middle. The duo added 46 runs for the second wicket before Gunaratne was dismissed for 35 from 25 balls. Samarawickrama managed to score 35 from 34 balls. Hasini Perera added 20 from 14 balls. Towards the end, Nilakshi de Silva remained unbeaten on 17* from 15 balls along with Ama Kanchana who added 7* from 6 balls. For West Indies Women, Afy Fletcher was the pick of the bowlers with 2/29 in 4 overs. Karishma Ramharack, Shamilia Connell, Hayley Kristen Matthews, Aaliyah Alleyne picked one wicket each.
That's the winning run!!!!! Sri Lanka Women have won the first game of the 3-match T20I series and are 1-0 ahead now.
18.4 Z James to A Kanchana
4 FOUR! Fuller length around off, Kanchana takes it on and sweeps it away through the midwicket region into the gap as the ball races away to the fence for a boundary to end the game. Kanchana hits the winning runs as Sri Lanka wins the game by 4 wickets with 8 balls to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match T20I series.
18.3 Z James to A Kanchana
0 Fuller length around off, Kanchana pushes it to mid-off.
18.2 Z James to Silva
1 Short of a length, de Silva pulls it away to the deep midwicket region for a single.
18.1 Z James to Silva
0 Around the wicket. Short of a length outside off, de Silva pushes it to the cover region.
0 Fuller length on the stumps, Kanchana defends it back to the bowler on the front foot.
Third Umpire has been referred. NOT-OUT signaled as Kanchana was inside the crease when the bails were dislodged.
17.5 A Fletcher to A Kanchana
2 Good length around off, Kanchana clips it away to the midwicket region as they hustle back for the second run. There is a chance of a run out at the keeper's end. TV umpire has been called in. Replays show that the dive has saved Kanchana and NOT OUT is the call.
17.4 A Fletcher to A Kanchana
0 Fuller length on the stumps, Kanchana presses forward and defends it back to the bowler.