WI-W vs SL-W, 3rd T20I: Perera, spinners help Sri Lanka register series win

Match Overview

West Indies Women and Sri Lanka Women locked horns in the third T20I at the National Cricket Stadium, St George's in Grenada on Tuesday, March 3. Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu won the toss and elected to field first.

West Indies had a poor powerplay as Sugandika Kumari and Inoka Ranaweera sent the top three back to the pavilion by the end of the fifth over itself. Veterans Deandra Dottin and Stafanie Taylor then combined to rebuild the innings and avoid a collapse. The right-handers though could not accelerate much due to the situation as their 48-run partnership came in 71 balls.

Sri Lanka dealt a double blow around the 16-over mark as both the set batters were dismissed bringing in another new pair to the crease. Chinelle Henry and Jahzara Claxton though provided a much-needed boost to the innings. The former played the lead role and was the aggressor in the partnership as Henry compiled unbroken 32 runs off just 15 balls. West Indies finished at a respectable 119/5 as Sugandika and Ranaweera starred with the ball for the Lankans.

The visitors began the chase on a positive note as skipper Athapaththu and wicketkeeper-batter Hasini Perera added 48 runs in the powerplay. However, Afy Fletcher struck in the subsequent over to dismiss Athapaththu for a quickfire 32 off 22 balls which brought in Imesha Dulani to the crease. Perera, at the other end, was going smoothly and kept the runs coming while Dulani played a busy knock.

The duo avoided any further losses and took their team to a comfortable nine-wicket win with 14 balls remaining. As a result, the visitors completed a series win by a margin of 2-0 and their skipper was declared the Player of the Series for her 76 runs and two wickets in the two T20Is. 

Top run-scorer of the match

Top wicket-taker of the match

Player of the Match

Hasini Perera

Perera looked stable throughout and played the anchor role. The 30-year-old held one end up and was the mainstay of the Lankan batting performance. The keeper-batter's partnerships were the major reason why Sri Lanka romped home with wickets in hand and balls to spare. Notably, the elegant left-hander completed her second half century in the format without much of a fuss.

Turning Point

Sri Lankan bowlers - Sugandika and Inoka Ranaweera - dismantling the West Indian top order with just 28 runs on the board in 4.1 overs put the home team on the back foot early on. It was a matter of resurrecting the innings for the next pair of batters and the Caribbeans had to play catch up cricket almost till the last ball of the innings.