COLOMBO: England asserted their authority over the Women’s World Cup with an 89-run victory over Sri Lanka in Colombo on Saturday, thanks to a classy hundred from Nat Sciver-Brunt and a masterful spell from Sophie Ecclestone.
Put into bat, England faltered early but Sciver-Brunt absorbed the pressure well and anchored the innings with a chanceless century to take his side to a solid 253-9.
Sri Lanka, in response, were never in the chase and folded meekly for 164 as Ecclestone spun a web around his batters.
Dropped on three points, English skipper Sciver-Brunt made the hosts pay a heavy price.
After a watchful start, she shifted gears during the death overs, unleashing a flurry of hits.
His run-a-ball 117, laced with nine fours and two sixes, was a dominant innings. The shot that brought his 10th ODI hundred, a majestic loft under extra cover off Sugandika Kumari, was his best of the day.
“I was just trying to build a partnership with the hope of picking up pace later. It’s important to have a batter stopped late in the innings. I’m also very happy with the first hundred as captain,” Sciver-Brunt said.
Her innings ended on the penultimate ball, when she deceived Udeshika Prabodhani, but the damage had long been done.
Sri Lanka’s chase faltered briefly with a 58-run stand between Harshitha Samarawickrama and Hasini Perera, but from 95-1 onwards they collapsed like a pack of cards.
Captain Chamari Athapaththu’s injury has only added salt to the wound. Stretched by cramps, she came back bravely but could only muster 15 before Ecclestone broke through her defence.
Ecclestone, the world’s highest-ranked ODI bowler, was in his element on the turning surface, tossing the ball teasingly, leaving the cover region vacant and luring the batters into fatal drives.
She conceded only 17 runs in her 10 overs, three of which were maidens and, what’s more, accounted for four wickets.
Four-time world champions England have now won all three of their matches in the eight-nation competition and sit quite high at the top of the rankings.
They remain in Colombo to face Pakistan next week before traveling to India for the final leg of the league stage.
Sri Lanka experience a quick turnaround as they take on New Zealand on Tuesday in Colombo.
“We played well overall, I thought. We dropped their captain early and she scored a hundred. That was the difference. Catches win games. We need to improve our catches a lot,” Athapaththu said.
