ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, England vs Sri Lanka: 5 Talking Points

England Women cruised on to a comfortable victory over Sri Lanka women by 7 wickets at Taunton riding on a four-wicket haul from Laura Marsh and fifties from Sarah Taylor and Heather Knight. Batting first, Sri Lanka kept losing wickets at regular intervals and could only crawl their way to a paltry 204/8 in their 50 overs.

Opener Hasini Perera was the top-scorer with 46 (63) while tail-ender Ama Kanchana also impressed with a cameo of 34*. Laura Marsh was the pick of the English bowlers with figures of 4/45 in her 10 overs.

Chasing the total, England got off to a bitter-sweet start having lost both of their openers for 50 runs inside 8 overs. However, Sarah Taylor and Heather Knight ensured that England romp home with a comfortable victory as both of them scored superb half-centuries.

Marsh was adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’ for her superb bowling spell. England ultimately won the match by 7 wickets and continued their superb run of form. Let us now have a look at the five talking points from the match.

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#1 Sri Lanka losing wickets in clusters

Sri Lanka got off to a steady start as their openers, Nipuni Hansika and Hasini Perera, stitched together a partnership of 44 runs for the first wicket. However, they soon found themselves in troubled waters as they lost both their openers in quick succession.

First, Natalie Sciver brought an end to Hansika’s troubled stay at the crease in the 13^th over as she was dismissed for a mere 17 runs off 40 deliveries. Then she struck back again dismissing Last match’s centurion, Chamari Atapattu.

Thus, Sri Lanka lost two wickets for just 7 runs and the fall of Atapattu’s wicket brought Shashikala Siriwardene to the crease who steadied the Lankan ship for a while along with Perera.

The period afterwards was followed by a couple of 30-odd runs stands for the third and fourth wickets as Sri Lanka cruised along to a score of 118/4.However, they lost the wickets of Harshitha Madhavi (1) and Dilani Manodara (28) in successive overs to be reduced to 130/6.

Their backbone was ruptured broken and it was ultimately up to the Lankan tail to stretch the score to a fighting total.

#2) Ama Kanchana’s late cameo

Sri Lanka wouldn’t even have posted 204 runs on the board if it was not for Ama Kanchana’s late cameo. She walked out to bat when Lanka were on the verge of being bowled out with the scoreboard reading 145/7 in the 39^th over. However, she showed tremendous attitude, grit and confidence to take the Lankan innings to a total that nobody expected.

She stitched together a 45-run stand with Oshadi Ranasinghe (26) for the 8^th wicket and stretched the Lankan innings as far as the 49^th over with her. She struck two boundaries and one six in her innings and ultimately remained unbeaten on 34 off 39 deliveries. It was because of her efforts that Sri Lanka were able to cross the 200-run mark.

#3) Laura Marsh’s superb bowling spell

Laura Marsh was the pick of the English bowlers as they restricted Sri Lanka to a paltry total of 204/8. Marsh returned with figures of 4/45 in her 10 overs and was outstanding throughout her spell.

The Lankan batswomen found it difficult to deal with Marsh at every stage of the innings. Moreover, three of her four victims were top-order batswomen and that sums up how influential her performance turned out to be. All three of her top-order wickets came in the middle-overs when Sri Lanka were trying to take control of the match.

First, she got Hasini Perera caught by Sarah Taylor just four runs shy off a well-deserved fifty in the 23^rd over. Again, she clean bowled another well-settled batswoman in Shashikala Siriwardene (33) on the last delivery of the 29^th over.

Harshitha Madavi (1) also found herself caught by Taylor of Marsh’s bowling as Sri Lanka were reduced to 130/5 in the 33^rd over. The English bowler finished up her spell by wrapping up her final victim, Eshani Lokusuriyage, for just 3 runs.

#4) England get off to a flying start but Sri Lanka strike back

England openers, Lauren Winfield and Tammy Beaumont, got England off to a flying start with a 33-run stand in the first five overs. However, Ama Kanchana showed her skills with the ball as she dismissed both the openers. First, she got Beaumont (12) trapped in front of the stumps in the first delivery of the sixth over.

Then, she accounted for Winfield in the 8^th over who was going hammer and tongs, having made her way to 26 off just 23 deliveries with five boundaries. However, she proved to be a bit expensive too as she leaked 38 runs in her 6 overs at an economy rate of 6.33 in a low-scoring chase.

But, credit still should be given to her as none of the other bowlers had been able to trouble the English openers.

#5) Sarah Taylor and Heather Knight make it look like a cake-walk

England had found themselves in a bit of bother after having lost both their openers in quick succession. They were 50/2 when Heather Knight joined hands with Sarah Taylor in the middle. What followed afterwards was an absolute master-class from both the batswomen as they dispatched each of the Lankan bowlers to all parts of the ground.

The duo kept dealing in boundaries as the Lankan bowlers found themselves absolutely helpless. Their partnership of 148 runs ultimately came to a halt when Knight found herself caught by Madavi off Atapattu’s bowling after a scintillating knock of 82 (76), with England needing only 7 runs with 20 overs to spare.

Taylor scored the required runs with back-to-back boundaries in the very next over as England won by a huge margin of 7 wickets and 118 deliveries remaining.