Women’s T20 World Cup: West Indies beat Sri Lanka by five wickets to remain unbeaten | Cricket News
Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu admitted his side paid the price for a poor batting display after suffering a five-wicket defeat to the West Indies in their Women’s T20 World Cup clash in Bristol. Chasing just 99, the unbeaten West Indies side cruised home with 23 balls to spare, leaving Sri Lanka with two losses from three matches.The damage was done early as Sri Lanka slipped to 9/3 in the powerplay and never really recovered, eventually being bowled out for 98. Athapaththu felt the conditions were challenging but said his side failed to adjust and execute their plans with the bat.“The wicket is a bit sticky today, and the ball is a bit sticky too, with the tennis ball bouncing around. So I feel West Indies are bowling according to their plans and conditions. We didn’t execute our plans on the power play. We lost a couple of wickets early, and throughout the game we struggled as a batting unit. So I feel we need to score 140 plus otherwise we cannot defend against this West Indian team. But unfortunately, we lost a couple of wickets and we struggled a lot in the middle,” he said after the match.Although the West Indies comfortably reached the target, the Sri Lankan bowlers managed to claim five wickets and briefly slowed the chase. Athapaththu was quick to defend his bowling attack, insisting that the lack of runs was the biggest problem.“Definitely our bowlers bowled in right line and length, but some extras have also given here, so the thing is, the 100 is not enough to defend. So we need to score more runs, otherwise we can not hit the bowlers”, he added.
Semi-final hopes hanging by a thread
Athapaththu singled out the bowling unit as one of the positives of the match, but stressed that improvements with the bat are urgently needed.“Our bowling department has done a good job for us but we need to improve our batting before the next game,” said Athapaththu.Sri Lanka now face a must-win situation, with wins over Ireland and Scotland essential to keep their semi-final hopes alive.
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