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Athapaththu’s 195* trumps Wolvaardt’s 184* in epic Sri Lanka chase
Sri Lanka completed the highest successful chase in women’s ODIs, against South Africa, and the only one over 300 thanks to a sensational 195* from their captain Chamari Athapaththu. She finished with her career-best ODI score and the third highest individual score by a batter in women’s ODIs to help Sri Lanka level the series 1-1.
In a battle of the captains, Athapaththu’s knock trumped Laura Wolvaardt’s 184* – the highest by a South African player and her fourth hundred since being named captain last September. She led South Africa to their fifth highest ODI score and highest against Sri Lanka but it was not enough.
Athapaththu and Nilakshika de Silva shared in a 179-run fifth-wicket partnership – the second-highest stand for the fifth-wicket or lower in the women’s game – and rescued Sri Lanka from 126 for 4 in the 21st over. Crucially, Sri Lanka gained two points on the ICC Womens Championship table, which determines qualification for the 2025 ODI World Cup. They move up to seventh spot and remain in the race for automatic entry to India next year – the top five teams along with the hosts will go through – with six matches left to play.
Sri Lanka leave South Africa after their most successful visit to these shores. Along with a squared ODI series, they won the T20I series 2-1 – their first series win over South Africa. In the immediate aftermath of that win, Athapaththu hinted international retirement but the form she displayed in the third ODI in Potchefstroom suggested she is nowhere near ready to put the bat down.
Sri Lanka had never scored 300 in an ODI before, much less chased that much but on a flat pitch with a fast outfield, Athapaththu fancied their chances. She hit the ball cleanly, was brutal straight down the ground and quick between the wickets and that was after opening the bowling and delivering a full quota of ten overs with a return of 1 for 59.
She was the senior partner in her opening stand with 18-year-old Vishmi Gunaratne and took the fight to South Africa. They put on 90 inside 16 overs before Gunaratne was given out lbw to Delmi Tucker, who was also involved in the second wicket. She took a good catch at backward point to dismiss Prasadani Weerakkody off Nadine de Klerk’s bowling and South Africa sensed an opportunity to make inroads into Sri Lanka’s middle order.
Wolvaardt brought back Ayabonga Khaka, playing in her 100th ODI, and she had immediate success. She had Hansima Karunaratne caught behind, chasing a wide one, off the first ball of her fourth over and Kavisha Dilhari caught behind down the leg side two balls later. Sinalo Jafta took both catches but the second one did her dirty as her shoulder hit the ground awkwardly and she had to leave the field. Uncapped 16-year-old Karabo Meso replaced her behind the stumps and thought she had wicket off De Silva’s first ball but umpire Jacqueline Williams was unmoved. Sri Lanka were 126 for 4 in the 21st over and Athapaththu was still there.
The Sri Lankan captain was unfazed by the mini-collapse and simply kept batting. She brought up a hundred off 78 balls in the 26th over and kept Sri Lanka on track as South Africa unraveled. Their fielding was sloppy; overthrows were offered aplenty and importantly, Athapaththu was dropped on 128 by Sune Luus at deep mid-wicket off Nonkululeko Mlaba in the 32nd over. At the time, Sri Lanka still needed 106 runs from 18.3 overs.
Athapaththu made the most of her let-off and continued to breeze her way through the chase with Silva providing strong support and South Africa losing their way. They sent down 19 wides and two no-balls in total and Sri Lanka cashed in. Athapaththu and de Silva combined boundary hitting with exceptional strike rotation and reached the target with five-and-half-overs – 33 balls – to spare to share the trophy
Earlier, South Africa would have been confident of claiming it after Wolvaardt scored her fastest – off 100 balls – and second successive hundred in the series against Sri Lanka. In the absence of Tazmin Brits – who underwent surgery on a meniscus tear in her left knee today – Wolvaardt has embraced the responsibility of both anchoring and accelerating the innings. She was the dominant partner in the opening partnership of 116 with Lara Goodall and scored 83 off 74 balls, while Goodall, playing in her 50th ODI, contributed 31 off 55.
South Africa’s innings stuttered through the middle period as the Sri Lankan spinners squeezed them. Goodall, Tucker and Luus were dismissed for eight runs in the space of 18 balls, but recovered thanks to their most reliable allrounder Marizanne Kapp. She and Wolvaardt shared a run-a-ball partnership of 63, and Kapp was at the other end when Wolvaardt reached her hundred before she was run-out at the end of the 35th over. South Africa were 187 for 4 at the time and the arrival of de Klerk brought an increased intensity.
De Klerk and Wolvaardt put on 92 in 80 balls for the sixth wicket, with de Klerk just establishing herself as a finisher, it was Wolvaardt who was aggressive in the stand. She hit her next 84 runs in 47 balls and South Africa scored 114 runs in their last 15 overs, at 7.6 runs an over, which seemed to set them up well until Athapaththu had the final say.
Scores:
Sri Lanka 305 for 4 in 44.3 overs (Vishmi gunarathne 26, Chamari Athapaththu 195*, Nilakshika de Silva 50*; Ayabonga Khaka 2-54, Nadine de Klerk 1-59, Delmi Tucker 1-42) beat South Africa 301 for 5 in 50 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 184*, Lara Goodall 31, Marizanne Kapp 36, Nadine de Klerk 35; Kavisha Dilhari 2-47, Chamari Athapaththu 1-59) by six wickets
The aid group Doctors Without Borders has reported recovering 11 bodies and rescuing dozens of people off the coast of Libya as it criticised the migration policies of the North African country and European countries.
In a statement on Friday, the group, known by its French initials MSF, said its Geo Barents rescue vessel managed to recover the bodies following a search operation lasting more than nine hours after being alerted by German nongovernmental organisation Sea-Watch, which also rescues refugees and migrants.
“As we cannot determine the reason behind this tragedy, we know that people will continue to take dangerous routes in a desperate attempt to reach safety, and Europe must find safe and legal pathways for them,” MSF said in a post on X. “This catastrophe must end!”
Sea-Watch said it is unclear whether the bodies were victims of a previously unknown shipwreck, adding that they tried to contact Libya’s coastguard to go and retrieve the dead, but received no reply.
“The so-called Libyan coastguard – financed by the EU – ignored our call demanding that the bodies be recovered,” the group said.
Thousands of people trying to head from Africa to Europe use Libya as a departing point, with the Italian island of Lampedusa the nearest European destination as they undertake the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to escape war, poverty and persecution.
Italy, which wants to put a stop to the migration stream, has said Libya and neighbouring Tunisia must do more to stop people from going to sea. It has also clamped down on the operation of the rescue ships, arguing that they encourage people to head to Europe, a charge that is denied by the charities.
Emphasising its policy on the rescue ships, Italy said on Friday that it forced the MSF rescue vessel to take the 165 people that it had saved from boats in the Mediterranean operation to the northern port of Genoa. The port was more than 650 nautical miles (1,200km) from their position and much farther than the more convenient ports in nearby Sicily, significantly delaying assistance to the rescued.
The route in the central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world, with the United Nations registering more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the area since 2014.
More than 3,000 refugees and migrants went missing in 2023 while attempting to use the route, according to the International Organization for Migration.
According to Italy’s interior ministry, the number of arrivals in the country has dropped in 2024 to fewer than 21,800 people since the beginning of the year, compared with close to 53,300 in the same period last year.
[Aljazeera]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
Afghanistan boosted their Super Eight chances with yet another dominating win, this time thumping New Zealand by 84 runs in Providence. Having beaten Uganda by 125 runs in their opening match, they are now at the top of Group C with a net run rate of 5.225.
After being sent in, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran gave Afghanistan a start of 103 in 14.3 overs. It came off the back of the 154 the pair added against Uganda, thus making them the first opening pair to register two successive century stands in the history of the T20 World Cup.
Afghanistan’s was an innings of two halves. They scored 55 for no loss in the first ten overs and 104 for 6 in the last ten, with Gurbaz contributing 80 off 56 balls. New Zealand, who had decided not to play any warm-up games, looked every bit rusty as their fielders dropped catches and missed run-out opportunities.
With the pitch assisting both seamers and spinners, chasing 160 was not going to be easy. But few would have expected New Zealand to collapse in the manner they did.
Fazalhaq Farooqi picked up three wickets in the powerplay and Rashid Khan three just after it. Eventually, both ended with identical figures of 4 for 17 as New Zealand were bowled out for 75 in the 15.2 overs. Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry were the only New Zealand batters to reach the double digits.
Trent Boult found some swing in the opening over but Gurbaz and Ibrahim showed their intent by picking up three fours off Henry from the other end. Both batters had luck on their side, too. Gurbaz got a second life when he skipped down the track to Santner and missed the ball, which went on to brush the leg stump but the bails did not budge. In the following over, Finn Allen dropped Ibrahim off Henry at the deep-square-leg boundary.
That was not all. Gurbaz got another reprieve after being involved in a miscommunication with Ibrahim. Having taken off for a single, Gurbaz had to retrace his steps and would have been run out had Conway not fumbled the throw.
Two balls later, New Zealand finally seemed to have found success when Santner pinged Ibrahim’s pads and umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruled it lbw. But the batter got the decision overturned on review as the ball was heading down the leg side. Immediately after that, Ibrahim hit Santner for an inside-out four as Afghanistan ended the powerplay on 44 for no loss.
New Zealand went against the prevailing wisdom of not bowling an offspinner when two right-hand batters at the crease, and Michael Bracewell repaid that faith by conceding only six off his first two overs.
Lockie Ferguson was even more frugal, going for five in his first two. He could have had Ibrahim off a slower full toss but a leaping Kane Williamson failed to pull off a one-handed stunner at mid-off. That meant while Afghanistan remained unscathed, they had only 55 on the board after ten overs.
Afghanistan had not hit a single six in the first ten overs, but there were five in the next three, including three in one Bracewell over as Gurbaz and Bracewell stepped on the accelerator. The pair took the side past 100 in the 14th over. New Zealand finally broke through when Ibrahim bottom-edged a short ball from Henry onto his stumps, after having been hit on the grille on the previous delivery.
Promoted to No. 3, Azmatullah Omarzai played his part with 22 off 13, which included two sixes in three balls off Henry. Mohammad Nabi fell for a first-ball duck but Gurbaz kept finding the boundary at regular intervals. However, a three-wicket, three-run final over by Boult kept Afghanistan to 159.
Farooqi gave Afghanistan a dream start with the ball. With the very first delivery of the innings, he uprooted Finn Allen’s leg stump as the ball moved in late. In the seamer’s next over, Conway pushed at one that seemed to come slower off the surface and was caught at extra cover.
The decision to give Farooqi a third over in the powerplay brought further rewards. This time, bowling around the wicket to Daryl Mitchell, he got a length delivery to just straighten and take the outside edge. Gurbaz took a regulation catch to complete the dismissal and leave New Zealand 28 for 3.
It could have been worse for New Zealand. In between, Naveen-ul-Haq had rapped Kane Williamson’s front pad after the batter had moved across to play a delivery. Afghanistan sent it upstairs for an lbw review but the umpire’s call saved the New Zealand captain.
Afghanistan did not have to wait too long for Williamson’s wicket. Rashid brought himself on after the powerplay and struck straightaway as Williamson guided one to first slip. But Rashid was just warming up. In his next over, he dismissed Mark Chapman and Bracewell off successive deliveries to leave New Zealand on 43 for 6. Chapman went for a pull and got bowled; Bracewell was late to bring his bat down and was lbw.
Phillips was New Zealand’s last hope. He did hit a couple of boundaries but was soon caught at long-on when he tried to take on Nabi. That ended any hopes of revival New Zealand might have had.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 159 for 6 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 80, Ibrahim Zadran 44, Azmatullah Omarzai 22; Trent Boult 2-22, Matt Henry 2-37, Lockie Fergusoan 1-28) beat New Zealand 75 in 15.2 overs (Glenn Phillips 18; Rashid Khan 4 for 17, Fazalhaq Farooqi 4 for 17, Mohammad Nabi 2-16) by 84 runs
[Cricinfo]
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