Sri Lanka Women’s National Cricket Team vs New Zealand Women’s National Cricket Team Match: Sri Lanka Women won the toss and elected to bat against New Zealand Women in the 15th match of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday, October 14. Sri Lanka are yet to register a win in the tournament and have only one point from their washed-out game against Australia. New Zealand claimed their first victory after beating Bangladesh in Guwahati.
Chamari Athapaththu said Sri Lanka decided to bat first as chasing had been difficult in previous games. She added that the team wants to play positive cricket and ease pressure on young batters. "We decided to bat first. Last two games we struggled to chase and conditions are good for batting. We have two changes. We have to play positive cricket in the middle and as a batting unit we have struggled. I told them we're playing good cricket in the last 12 months against the best teams, but this is the biggest stage, so we don't want to put too much pressure on our shoulders. Just play your natural game, that's the important thing, because there are a lot of youngsters in my batting unit, I don't want to put too much pressure on their shoulders," she said after winning the toss.
Read Also | ICC Women's World Cup 2025 Points Table: Updated Standings After South Africa Women vs Bangladesh Women Match
New Zealand captain Sophie Devine said the team does not mind bowling first. She praised the bowling attack in the previous match and said they are ready for the challenge in different conditions. "We don't mind bowling first. The bowling attack was fantastic against Bangladesh. It's going to be similar here, in slightly different conditions potentially, but we're really pleased that we finally got a win on the board, we know today is a new challenge. Just one change - Illing comes in for Tahuhu. Just think the match-up with Illing against Chamari is obviously a key one, some of the stats suggest that she goes okay, so we're really excited to be able to bring in Bree again," Devine said.
Sri Lanka Women vs New Zealand Women Match Playing XIs
New Zealand Women (Playing XI): Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine(c), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze(w), Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Bree Illing, Eden Carson
Sri Lanka Women (Playing XI): Hasini Perera, Chamari Athapaththu(c), Vishmi Gunaratne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani(w), Piumi Wathsala Badalge, Sugandika Kumari, Malki Madara, Inoka Ranaweera
