[ad_1]
At Galle International Stadium, Galle: White Ferns 127-2 (Suzie Bates 63 off 87) lost to Sri Lanka 196-2 (Chamari Athapaththu 140no off 80, Nilakshi de Silva 48no off 68) by eight wickets via DLS method.
The White Ferns have lost a series to Sri Lanka for the first time after a magnificent 140 from opener Chamari Athapaththu in the third one-day international in Galle on Tuesday (NZ time).
Their historic eight-wicket defeat in the decider was via DLS in a rain-affected match, with Sri Lanka winning the series 2-1 after beating the White Ferns for the first time in any format only last week.
In their first tour of Sri Lanka, it was another disappointing result for the White Ferns against a side who didn’t qualify for last year’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand.
Opting to bat first, the White Ferns made 127-2 from 31 overs before rain stopped play, with Suzie Bates and skipper Sophie Devine unbeaten on 63 and 38 respectively.
The hosts were set a revised target of 196 to win from 29 overs and chased it down with 13 balls to spare in which Athapaththu led the charge almost single-handedly.
She smashed 140 from 80 balls for her eighth ODI century and hit 13 four and nine sixes.
Athapaththu went after spinners Eden Carson (0-46 from five overs) and Fran Jonas (0-26 from three overs) and medium pacer Molly Penfold (0-29 from three overs) as she reached three figures in just 60 balls.
The White Ferns had only scored just above four an over when the rain came. Bates, after reaching her 32nd ODI 50, was primed to kick on with Devine (38 off 48 balls) in the final overs after Bernadine Bezuidenhout (4) and Mellie Kerr (19) fell cheaply.
The veteran batters had shared 74 off 88 balls for the third wicket, although the White Ferns had managed only seven fours inside 31 overs.
White Ferns coach Ben Sawyer said the rain delay was frustrating because they had built a good foundation.
“Not our best performance, if we’re honest. We were set up to get 260 or 270 and that would have put a bit of pressure on, but we bowled pretty poorly,” he said.
“[Athapaththu] batted well, but we made the same mistakes we made in the first game and didn’t learn from that.”
Sri Lanka were 6-2 after Lea Tahuhu removed their other opener, Vishmi Gunaratne, for a duck in the first over and Devine dismissed Harshitha Samarawickrama for 3.
However, Athapaththu shared an unbeaten third-wicket partnership of 190 with Nilakshi de Silva (48 off 68 balls) – Sri Lanka’s highest in ODIs – to win the series and beat New Zealand for only the second time.
Sri Lanka’s first win over the White Ferns was in the first ODI last Wednesday, a nine-wicket victory after another unbeaten century from Athapaththu at the same venue.
The White Ferns levelled the series on Saturday after Devine and Melie Kerr’s tons in Galle but lost the decider ahead of three Twenty20s to complete their Sri Lanka tour.
The first T20 is in Colombo on Saturday.
[ad_2]