Colombo [Sri Lanka], October 14 : The ICC Women's World Cup match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Colombo was washed out due to rain, leaving the hosts in search of their first win in the tournament.
After Sri Lanka had won the toss, they had opted to bat first and posted 258/6 in their 50 overs. Sri Lanka has two points now, both coming from washouts, and they have lost two matches. NZ, who have just one win in their four matches, having lost two. While NZ is at the fifth place, Sri Lanka languishes at the second-last place.
Sri Lanka marched to 258/6 in their 50 overs against New Zealand, with Nilakshi and skipper Chamari Athapaththu contributing useful half-centuries. Silva's fifty came in 26 balls, as she broke her own record of reaching the milestone in 28 balls against India earlier this year.
Skipper Athapaththu had a fine start with the opener Vishmi Gunaratne (42 in 83 balls, with three fours), stitching a 101-run opening stand and bringing only the third century partnership for Lanka in women's WC. The duo also completed 858 runs as a partnership duo for Sri Lanka in ODIs, the most by a pair for any wicket, within just 21 innings, outdoing Dedunu de Silva and Chamari Polgampola (857 runs in 31 innings).
After Rosemary Mair (1/29) and skipper Sophie Devine (3/54) removed the openers to leave SL at 125/2, it was Hasini Perera (44 in 61 balls, with six fours) and Harshitha Samarawickrama (26 in 31 balls, with two fours) who stitched a third-wicket 58-run stand.
However, Bree Illing (2/39) and Devine triggered a mini-collapse, leaving SL struggling at 198/5 in 42.4 overs.
Nilakshi (55* in 28 balls, with seven fours and a six) and Anushka Sanjeewani (6*) took SL to 258/6, their second-highest total in the World Cup after 282/5 against India at Brabourne in the 2013 edition.
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