New dawn in women's cricket as Sri Lanka shock Eng in T20I series 2-1 after Pak stunned SA 3-0

 



Women's cricket is gaining a new dawn with lesser teams winning series vs high profile  sides . It is now becoming a year of underdogs in womens cricket . Sri Lankan ladies have absolutely stunned the women's cricket fraternity by beating hosts England 2-1 in 3 match T20I series .  Couple of months back Sri Lanka, beat formidable New Zealand at home in ODIs  2-1 with their captain Chamari Athapaththu slamming two blistering 100s . 


Now in the meantime,  Pakistan were playing 3 match T20 series vs South Africa at home  and contrary to all expectations the Pakistani women scripted a stunning 3-0 series whitewash of the Proteas who were the runner up in the T20I world cup earlier this year .

Currently everyone is talking about the Sri Lankan team & its exploits with the free stroking Chamari Athapaththu leading from the front .

The England v Sri Lanka T20I series started with England winning the rain affected first game by 12 runs on Duckworth lewis method . Dani Wyatt(48) & Alice Capsey (51) powered England to 186/7 in 17 overs & Sri Lanka reached 55/3 in 6 overs when rains stopped play . Sri Lanka's major  turnaround came in the 2nd T20I when their slower bowlers spun a web around the aggresive England batting and choked them to get all out for 104 only . Then Chamari Athapaththu played another explosive knock of 55 in just 31 balls to set up the win while Harshita (30*)and Gunaratne (18*) finished in style in 13.2 overs for an emphatic Sri Lanka win by 8 wickets . 


To prove that the last win was not a flash in the pan , Sri Lanka bowlers again choked the England batting as the hosts struggled to get 116. Few of the english batters got starts but could not push on while Chamari was the most successful bowler with 3/21 . As if her bowling was not enough , the Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu came out all guns blazing to smash 44 in 28 balls to give Sri Lanka a blistering start from which they never looked back as once again Harshita showed her composure to finish the game with 26 notout as Sri Lanka women won by 7 wickets for a historic series win on England soil . Chamari Athapaththu for her all round show was both the player of the match in last game and player of the series . She has shown great ball striking ability during this year with her cracking cover drives and cuts and blistering pull shots which was on full display during this England series . One wonders how the recruiters at the global leagues WPL, the hundred and WBBL overlooked her credentials. 


Meanwhile Pakistani women too created history but beating a top drawer team South Africa 3-0 in a T20I series as home which is another  unexpected result given the standing of Pakistan in womens cricket compared to South Africa.  In all the 3 matches held at Karachi  the team batting first totalled 150 which is a strange occurence.  In the first game the tourists failed to capitalize on  great starts by Brits (78) and Wolvaardt (44) and Aliya Riaz (28*)  played a great finishers knock to take Pakistan home on the final ball in epic finish for a 5 wicket win. In an identical 2nd match again South Africa failed to capitalize on starts by Wolvaardt (41) & Brits (46) and again Aliya Riaz (31* off 18 ) scripted the win in 19.1 overs along with Muneeba (26* off 15 ) for a 7 wicket win to take an unassailable 2-0 series lead .



Pakistan completed the whitewash in the 3rd game . Setting a 150 target their bowlers choked the Proteas and despite Wolvaardt 's (72) gallant efforts South Africa fell 6 runs short to lose the series 3-0 in a stunning upset . 


The above big results for the Asian teams Sri Lanka and Pakistan who are not considered in the top bracket will definitely give women's cricket a huge boost and the coming Asian Games 2023 will have interesting duels in womens cricket. In world womens  cricket   Australia,  England,  India  South Africa and New Zealand  will now have to take teams like Sri Lanka,  Pakistan and Bangladesh  seriously .

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