NEWS
Follow UsSri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu blamed the slow and low tracks of Sharjah for her team’s consecutive losses in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. Sri Lanka’s six-wicket loss against Australia on October 5 (Saturday) was second on the trot for the Asian team in two games.
They were beaten by Pakistan (31 runs) on the opening day (October 3) of the tournament in Sharjah.
“We were playing good cricket in the last two months. We are struggling on these tracks with low turn and bounce,” Athapaththu said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“Our batting is dependent on the top three-four batters. Our first four batters struggled and that cost us,” she added as her team could only manage to put on 93/7 after opting to bat first in Sharjah.
This was also the second time in a row that Sri Lanka could not cross the 100-run mark in this World Cup as they were restricted to 85/9, chasing 117 against Pakistan.
The islanders next play India in Dubai on October 9 and Athapaththu believes her team can then rise to the occasion. “I hope we will improve in our next game and our girls will perform well in Dubai. Dubai is better for batting so I hope we will perform better there,” she said.
Alyssa Healy, captain of the Australian team was happy to put on a decent show, which was not perfect according to her, but good enough to get through.
“We are off to a good start and I’m happy with that. We were decent without being perfect. The wickets are a little bit low and slow and we will see how it’s in the next game against Pakistan,” Healy said as her team lost the first two wickets for just 14 runs on the board.
They were three down for 35 before the 43-run stand between Beth Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner eventually took them close to the target.
Healy also said that watching games at Sharjah helped them prepare well. “We watched a few games earlier here and it came in handy for us.”
Megan Schutt, who took 3/12 in her four overs and kept the Lankan batters quiet for most of the innings, was adjudged Player of the Match. She credited her skipper Healy for allowing her to bowl three overs in the powerplay.
“There was a bit more bounce in the wicket than I thought there was going to be early on. I've been pushing Midge (Healy) for three overs in the powerplay for a long time,” said the 31-year-old.
“In the heat it was tough. I think Moons lost about 16 kilos out there. I think we've finally acclimatized because I didn't feel like I would die today,” joked the pacer.
Australia next play New Zealand in Sharjah on October 8, before facing Pakistan in Dubai on October 11. They are now sitting at the second position on the Group A points table after New Zealand, who beat India in their opening encounter.
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