The 8th Commonwealth Games cricket match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka saw the White Ferns fail to get off to a good start in the middle but luckily Lea Tahuhu’s late runs helped them to a competitive total that Sri Lanka in response fell. short term and New Zealand with consecutive victories joined England to advance to the knockout stages.

1st round: New Zealand – 147/7 (20)

New Zealand having won the coin toss opted to strike first and almost achieved their desired scenario as the opening pair of Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates again provided New Zealand with a strong start as Fairly good damage from both sides saw New Zealand finish the power play strong 41-0. Inoka Ranaweera was introduced right after the power play and created an instant impact by dismissing Sophie Devine on 24(23). Inoka wasted no time, she had her 2nd in her 2nd on Amelia Kerr’s dismissal on 7 (7) and a good restriction on the flow of points saw New Zealand reach 64- 2 halfway through. New Zealand eventually had a good run of 11 over the bowling of Sugandika Kumari but what followed was the re-introduction of Oshadi Ranasinghe which saw her do a double shot sending Maddy Green and Suzie Bates into the same on scores of 9 (8) and 34 (32) respectively. Hayley Jensen also left early on the 3 (3) when Kavisha Dilhari struck and New Zealand were down 98-5 at the end of the 15. Brooke Halliday on one side struggled but had some welcome limitations on his way and Izzy Gaze on the other end was also scoring at a good pace. Inoka was on for his final and hit Halliday on 22 (23) and on the last ball of the over, a runout sent Gaze back on 16 (14). Just in time, Lea Tahuhu took over for the Kiwis and scored a quick 8-ball-20 that helped New Zealand post a competitive 147 on the board with Tahuhu and Rowe unbeaten with scores of 20 (8) and 4 (3) respectively. For Sri Lanka, Inoka Ranaweera with 3 topped the wicket chart which had Oshadi Ranasinghe with 2 and Kavisha Dilhari with one to his name.

First player (male or female) to score 3500 T20I runs

Suzie Bates, bow down 🙌❤️#CricketTwitter #NZvSL pic.twitter.com/frxNtJgA9m

— Women’s Cricket #B2022 (@imfemalecricket) August 2, 2022

2nd set: Sri Lanka 102-8 (20)

Sri Lanka in response to the 147 chase got off to the worst possible start losing their skipper, Chamari Athapaththu to a 4-ball duck from Hayley Jensen’s bowling alley. Sri Lanka in the 5th got their first boundary but Rowe in the same struck for New Zealand winning the wicket of Vishmi Gunaratne on 3 (9) and Lea Tahuhu closing the overs well on the power play with the score of the Sri Lanka on 18-2. Lea Tahuhu posted brilliant power play numbers of 3-0-8-0. Jensen’s reintroduction immediately after power play overs saw her fire Hasini Perera on 8 (19). Nilakshi de Silva looked to hold an end but the wickets continued to fall on each other as Rosemary in her opening shot hit Harshitha Madavi on 5 (8) then Eden Carson in her opening shot Kavisha Dilhari lbw on 4 (5) and Sri Lanka at midpoint were 35-5. The pair of Ama Kanchana and Silva collected a few points including a 12 before Carson struck again and brushed Ama Kanchana aside on 8 (11). Nilakshi de Silva continued to impress on one set but lacked partners on the other as Jensen beat Anushka Sanjeewani 2 (4). Just when Oshadi Ranasinghe started with some limits, Amelia Kerr beat her last 4th against Nilakshi de Silva on a good 36 (35). Oshadi Ranasinghe on 18* (21) and Sugandika Kumari 5* (6) with a partnership of 18* (17) saw Sri Lanka finish 102-8 short of 45 requirements. For New Zealand, Hayley Jensen with 3 topped the wicket chart which had Eden Carson with a couple, Hannah Rowe, Rosemary Mair and Amelia Kerr with a follow each.

A clinical 45-run victory for the New Zealand women’s cricket team against Sri Lanka#CricketTwitter #NZvSL pic.twitter.com/GQcr6uusbt

— Women’s Cricket #B2022 (@imfemalecricket) August 2, 2022

Another game and another comfortable win for New Zealand. Among the many positives, what is key for New Zealand is that their young bowling unit went from strength to strength when it mattered most, we had also seen the same in the opener against New Zealand. ‘South Africa. As Sri Lanka continue to add another disappointing chapter to their low totals streak despite strong bowling performances.

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