WWT20 TEAM GUIDES: Sri Lanka, an unlikely outsider

While the country has no prior success in the World Cup, the upcoming tournament will be valuable experience for them, playing against the world’s best women’s teams

Sri Lanka are led by captain Chamari Atapattu, an experienced international cricketer who has played for Melbourne Renegades in the Women’s Big Bash and Yorkshire Diamonds in the Kia Super League.

She has a wealth of experience and will be key to the outcome of the tournament for Sri Lanka.

While the country has no prior success in the World Cup, the upcoming tournament will be valuable experience for them, playing against the world’s best women’s teams.

Form

In September, Sri Lanka lost a T20 series 4-0 to India, with one game abandoned. Most of the matches were close with only the final clash being lost by Sri Lanka by a large margin (51 runs).

Furthermore, in all but the final game, Sri Lanka hit over 130 in every innings (they managed 155 in the first meeting of the sides).

At the start of summer Sri Lanka competed in the Women’s T20 Asia Cup. They finished fourth in the competition, below India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, winning two out of their five games.

Sri Lanka started the competition strongly by winning their first two matches - their six-wicket win over Bangladesh was set up bymbowling the opposition out for 63.

Their second match against Malaysia was won by a large margin of 90 runs. However, Sri Lanka did not capitalise on the momentum gained in their early outings as they lost their final three games.

They are placed No.8 in the world which makes them one of the lowest ranked teams in the competition.

^{Chamari Atapattu}

Star players

Chamari Atapattu and Shashikala Siriwardene

Captain Atapattu is vastly experienced on the international stage. Although she has been more successful for Sri Lanka in the ODI format, in her 69 T20Is she has scored 1,162 runs at an average of 17.60, a strike-rate of 92.73 and with a high score of 52.

In all formats of the game she has scored 3,490 international runs. She has also played in the Women’s Big Bash and Kia Super League which has greatly improved her game. She is also remembered for her superb 178 not out against Australia in last year’s World Cup.

Siriwardene has become one of Sri Lanka’s best established allrounders with 65 T20Is to her name, in which she has taken 61 wickets at an average of 19.95, with an economy rate of 5.55 and best figures of 4-9.

She is one of Sri Lanka’s most consistent bowlers which is vital in the T20 format where taking regular wickets and keeping the economy rate down is highly important. She also contributes with the bat and her recent form has been impressive.

In Sri Lanka’s recent series with India, her totals in the last three innings were 35, 40 and 22. She is in great form heading into the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Another motivation for Siriwardene is how close she is to a great milestone. She needs just 102 runs to become the second Sri Lanka batter to reach 1,000 runs in the T20 format. 

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Strengths

A key strength for Sri Lanka is the number of all-rounders they possess. This gives them great depth in their batting and bowling line-ups. 

Weaknesses

A notable weakness of Sri Lanka is their ability to put enough runs on the board to compete with the strongest teams in the competition.

In the Women’s T20 Asia Cup, Sri Lanka did not post more than 136 in any innings. Women’s T20 cricket is entering into a new generation of hard-hitting, attacking and ruthless batting which is seeing teams make over 200. If Sri Lanka do not reach these heights then it is unlikely they will compete with the strongest teams in the competition.

^{Sri Lanka face a tough test at the World T20}

Chances of winning

Although Sri Lanka is a team full of promise, it is unlikely that they will progress further than the group stages as they are yet to show that they can beat the world’s top teams. Their toughest matches are likely to be against England, South Africa and the West Indies.

Prediction: Group stage

Bet you didn’t know

Sri Lanka’s win percentage at the T20 World Cup is 30 per cent.

Fixture list (all UK time): England (Nov 10, 8pm), South Africa (Nov 13, midnight), Bangladesh (Nov 14, 8pm), West Indies (Nov 17, midnight)