Ireland women notched up their first two wins of the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 and completed a series win over Sri Lanka.

Despite the absence of regular skipper Laura Delany and stand-in captain Gaby Lewis, Ireland scripted a stunning victory over Sri Lanka in the second ODI in Belfast on Sunday.

After 10 losses in the ICC Women’s Championship, Ireland were exceptional with bat and ball and completed two wins in two games to ensure a series victory against the visiting Sri Lankan side.

The batters once again laid a solid foundation for Ireland on Sunday, with Leah Paul top-scoring with 81 off 101 balls. She was given solid company by Rebecca Stokell, who finished on an unbeaten 53 off just 61 balls.

Earlier, Amy Hunter had also brought up a fifty from No.3 to give the middle-order a good platform.

The century stand between Leah and Rebecca is the highest for the fifth wicket for Ireland women in ODIs. Having posted 255 on board, Ireland were in a strong position to win, but Sri Lanka responded strongly.

Harshitha Samarawickrama joined Chamari Athapaththu and Vishmi Gunaratne, who hit a ton in the previous ODI, to become just the third Sri Lanka batter to hit a century in women’s ODIs.

Harshitha’s run out triggered a collapse that saw Sri Lanka lose seven wickets for 30 runs, including three in an over from Arlene Kelly.

Kelly finished with figures of 3/41 as Ireland completed a stunning turnaround win to go 2-0 up in the three-match series.

SOURCE: ICC
--Agencies