Sri Lanka beat Windies women in one-dayer

KINGSTOWN: Sri Lanka beat West Indies by 27 runs on Thursday at the Arnos Vale Ground to take a 1-0 lead in their six-match One-Day International women’s cricket series.

The Sri Lankans, electing to bat, scored 193 for nine off their 50 overs, and the West Indies, in spite of a fighting unbeaten 38 from Shane De Silva, fell short in their run chase at 166 for eight in 50 overs. This is the first ever women’s cricket tour of the Caribbean by a national team. Sri Lanka got good contributions from number four batter Chamani Seneviratne (37), Shashikala Siriwardane (29) and left-hander Hiruka Fernando (25) but their near-200 was best assisted by a bulky 40 extras, including 31 wides.

Bowling for the West Indies, Nelly Williams captured three for 43, while fellow medium pacers Doris Francis (2-28) and Pamela Alfred (2-32) and off-spinner Verena Felicien (2-36) shared six wickets. The left-handed De Silva shared in three threatening partnerships for the West Indies — 30 with captain Felicien (28) for the fifth wicket, 39 with Williams (20) for the eighth-wicket, and an unfinished ninth-wicket stand of 37 with Debbie-Ann Lewis (24). Sri Lanka’s top bowlers were off-spinner Rose Fernando (2-24) and leg-spinner Dona Indralatha (2-37).

West Indies coach Ann Browne-John, disappointed with the high number of extras her team gave up, also pointed to a batting let-down. “The players are just getting organised and overcoming first game jitters, but the batters did not apply themselves, we used a strong batting line-up,” Browne-John said. “In our team meeting after the match, we discussed what went wrong and I think they realise now how easy it could have been to win the match. Hopefully they will apply themselves better in the remaining matches,” Browne-John added.

The series now moves to Trinidad and Tobago for matches two tomorrow and three (Tuesday) before returning to SVG for the closing three matches. The series provides practice for the Caribbean side preparing for the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) tournament in Holland this summer. The IWCC tournament will have the West Indies playing alongside Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Pakistan, and Scotland for two spots to the 2005 Women’s World Cup.