Chamari Atapattu mayhem continues as Sri Lanka romp to another easy win in Commonwealth Games Qualifiers

Commonwealth Games Qualifiers as Sri Lanka romped to an easy win against Kenya at the Kinrara Academy Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (January 20). Sri Lanka are currently now on the top of the table with two wins from as many matches.

Opting to field first, Sri Lanka had immediate success with Mary Mwangi getting run out in the fourth over with only 13 runs on the board. Kenya were in further trouble when they lost skipper Margaret Ngoche, Sharon Juma. They were reduced to 26 for three in 7.3 overs.

From there, opener Queentor Abel and Sarah Wetoto resurrected the Kenya innings and added 45 runs for the fourth wicket. But Sri Lanka struck back with the wicket of Abel when she was trapped in front of the wicket by Atapattu for 33. Kenya eventually finished their innings on 87 for six from the stipulated 20 overs.

For Sri Lanka, only young Sachini Nisansala went over more than run-a-ball with four bowlers picking a wicket each.

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In the chase, Vishmi Gunaratne started aggressively hitting Lavendah Idambo for a boundary in the opening over before Atapattu took charge with two fours in the next over. The southpaw repeated the feat against Idambo and Sri Lanka were 41 for no loss by the fifth over.

In the final over of the power play, Atapattu went another gear up as she smashed 16 runs from Mwangi’s first over. The left-hander hit two fours and six in the over to take Sri Lanka’s score to 57 at the end of it, 37 off those runs came from her bat.

Kenya were out of ideas as they found no way to stop the burly basher from Sri Lanka. Atapattu hit Wetoto for back-to-back sixes to reach to her second fifty in the tournament from just 27 balls. She added one more four to her total before falling in the next over to Esther Wachira.

By that time, Sri Lankan win was only a formality and Gunaratne finished the match in style with a boundary in the ninth over. She remained not out on 26 off 26 balls, while Atapattu scored 57 from 29 balls.

Brief Scores: Kenya 87/6 in 20 overs (Queentor Abel 33, Sarah Wetoto 29; Chamari Atapattu 1/10) lost to Sri Lanka 89/1 in 9.3 overs (Chamari Atapattu 57, Vishmi Gunaratne 26*) by nine wickets POTM: Chamari Atapattu