An extremely anticlimactic White Ferns cricket tour dictated by the bat of Sri Lankan superstar Chamari Athapaththu ended in fitting fashion.
Through all three ODIs and three Twenty20s, the result has been foretold within a few overs of Sri Lanka’s innings. As close to a one-person team as you’ll get in international cricket, when Athapaththu has been dismissed early — twice for a golden duck, once on two in a calamitous runout — the White Ferns have cruised to victory.
On the three other occasions — 108 not out off 83 balls, 140 not out off 105 balls, and, yesterday, 80 not out off 47 balls — Sri Lanka have soared to victory, with the Kiwis returning home with a three-win, three-loss record, and all results have hinged on the contributions of Athapaththu.
The final match was the most emphatic showing yet, with Sri Lanka chasing down New Zealand’s target of 141 with a laughable 33 balls to spare and 10 wickets in hand.
In fairness, she was helped in this dead rubber by New Zealand taking the opportunity to give everyone a game. The Ferns led the T20 series 2-0 going into the third match in Colombo, so brought in Izzy Gaze, Molly Penfold and Hannah Rowe for Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Lea Tahuhu and Leigh Kasperek.
Gaze, surprisingly utilised as an opener in a straight swap for fellow keeper Bezuidenhout, made 13 off 14 in an opening stand of 43 alongside Suzie Bates (37 off 38), while Amelia Kerr made a run-a-ball 14 at No 3.
That left Sophie Devine coming in during the 11th over, and her 46 off 25 balls saw her become the fifth woman to 3000 T20 international runs, doing so with the fewest balls faced.
At 135-5 with two overs to play, Devine’s dismissal saw the innings come to a grinding halt, ending at 140-9, but with Athapaththu playing in Jekyll mode rather than Hyde, it didn’t matter.
Having negotiated the troublesome opening delivery, her second ball faced to Eden Carson went for six and the fourth ball for four to start with a bang. Rowe and Penfold saw their opening overs go for 15 as Sri Lanka had the target down to double digits after three overs.
Remarkably, there was a boundary in each of the first 13 overs, with the Ferns’ best effort being a Devine over that leaked just five runs. Harshitha Samarawickrama was an admirable lieutenant for her skipper in making 49 not out off 40 balls.
But the game was in the palm of Athapaththu’s glove, and after Sri Lanka began this tour with no victories over New Zealand in their history, they now, because of her, have three.
-Agencies-
