Kathryn Bryce, Harshitha Madavi take honours on day 4 of Commonwealth Games Qualifiers

Commonwealth Games Qualifiers at the Kinrara Academy Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday (January 22). In the other match, Harshitha Madavi and Nilakshi de Silva’s quickfire partnership led Sri Lanka to a dominant win against Malaysia.

After an extended rain delay, Kenya invited Scotland to bat first. Lavendah Idambo got hit for two back-to-back fours in the first over by Sarah Bryce but she dismissed Scotland’s wicket-keeper with the third ball of the innings. Abbi Aitken-Drummond and Kathryn led the counter-attack with the partnership of 38 runs. Kathryn was the aggressor as she hit 14 runs off Queentor Abel’s second over.

Kathryn tried to up the ante but Sarah Wetoto cleaned her up in the sixth over for 27. Katie McGill replaced her captain and Scotland crossed the 50-run mark in the seventh over. Flavia Odhiambo ended McGill’s short stay at the crease in the final over for eight. That didn’t stop Aitken-Drummond, who hit a six and a four to end Scotland’s innings on 70. Mercyline Ochieng and Esther Wachira were economical for Kenya but could not get any wickets.

In reply, Abel started with two boundaries in the first over of the chase. Kathryn then handed the ball to the reliable Katherine Fraser, who immediately gave her side a breakthrough. Fraser stuck with back-to-back deliveries to see the back of Abel and Veronica Abuga. Wetoto, batting at four, made most of a dropped chance to amass 14 runs off Fraser’s second over.

Scotland’s only conceded 13 runs off the last three overs as Wetoto’s resistance could not make a lot of difference and Kenya fell short by 16 runs.

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In the second match of the day, Malaysia invited Sri Lanka to bat first. Chamari Atapattu freed her arms early to hit three boundaries in an over. Malaysia’s captain Winifred Duraisingam broke the dangerous-looking partnership with the wicket of Vishmi Rajapaksha. Atapattu continued her attack, which led to her wicket in the fifth over for 30.

From 44 for two in the power play, Madavi, and Perera added 45 runs for the third wicket partnership with the former stamping her authority with a flurry of boundaries. Once Perara was trapped in front by Nur Dania Syuhada for 12, Silva and Madavi went ballistic. Madavi hit Mas Elysa behind the square to bring her maiden T20I half-century. The fourth-wicket partnership of 87 runs took Sri Lanka to their third-highest score in T20Is.

Malaysia’s chase started on shaky grounds as Sugandika Kumari sent Wan Julia and Elysa in her first over of the match. Duraisingam and Ainna Hamizah Hashim saw the hosts through the power play without any additional damage. Sri Lanka’s bowlers did not offer any chance as Malaysia’s scoring rate remained sedate even after the power play.

Anura Ranasinghe broke the stand of 25 runs with a wicket of Hashim, who never looked settled in her innings. Ranasinghe added one more wicket to the bag when she dismissed Nur Arianna Natsya for 10. Duraisingam remained unbeaten on 42 as Malaysia lost three wickets to run out towards the end of the innings and lost by 93 runs.

Brief Scores: 

Scotland 70/3 in 8 overs (Kathryn Bryce 27, Abbi Aitken-Drummond 21*; Lavendah Idambo 1/8) beat Kenya  54/3 in 8 Overs (Sarah Wetoto 24*, Sharon Juma 10*; Katherine Fraser 2/17) by 16 runs

Sri Lanka 173 for 3 in 20 overs (Harshitha Madavi 65*, Nilakshi de Silva 49*; Nik Atiela 1/21) beat Malaysia 82 for 7 in 20 overs (Winifred Duraisingam 42*, Nur Arianna Natsya 10; Sugandika Kumari 2/12) by 93 runs