CHAMARI’s CENTURY CHAMPIONS A CLINICAL WIN FOR SRI LANKA

ICC 10th WOMEN's WORLD CUP - Match 20 – Sri Lanka v Ireland at Bristol on 23 June 2026

Result – Sri Lanka beat Ireland by 9 wickets
Points – Sri Lanka 2(4), Ireland 0(0)
Toss – Sri Lanka
Umpires – Candace La Borde, Kim Cotton, Saleema Imtiaz (TV)
Player of the Match – Chamari Athapaththu
Match Centre Link - You can view the scorecard, watch highlights and engage more at Match Centre of ICC. The match can be accessed here. 

IRELAND INNINGS

30 RUNS & 3 WICKETS
The 20^th Match of the T20 World Cup featured two Island nations, Sri Lanka and Ireland. While Ireland was looking for their first points, Sri Lanka was looking for redemption after a heart wrenching loss against West Indies. Bristol brings fond memories for Chamari as she made her famous 178 here in the 2017 ODI World Cup. Ireland also had a good recent memory as they beat Sri Lanka in their last match couple of years ago. Chamari won the toss and invited Ireland to bat. 

Amy Hunter and Gaby Lewis were the opening batters for IRE and Mithali Ayodhya took the opening over for SL. She started with a near slinger to Amy. After a leg bye in the 2^nd ball, she kept Gaby at bay with a good length delivery. When Gaby tried to steal another leg bye in the 4^th ball, Kaushini raced to the ball and hit the stumps before Amy could make the strikers end. Two more dot balls followed and IRE were 1/1 after 1. Sugandika operated from the other end. She started with 2 extras but kept Orla stranded with 3 dot balls. A frustrated Orla came down the track in the 5^th ball only to be done by the spin & a brilliant Kaushini behind the wickets. At end of the first two overs, IRE were in trouble at 3/2. Mithali continued and Rebecca Stokell finally found a boundary as she beautifully drove a full length delivery past mid off. Rebecca operated with more verve in the next over with two boundaries from it. She carted Sugandika over her head in the 2^nd ball and and  flicked one between the bowler and mid on in the 4^th ball. Just when Rebecca started to counter attack, Mithali slung one to her legs and Rebecca’s attempted pull ended up falling straight into the hands of Kaveesha. Mithali completed the 3 run over and Nimisha Meepage was brought in to close the power play. Gaby Lewis finally had a hit when she closed the power play with a dominant pull. IRE closed the power play at 30/3. Gaby with Leah Paul for company had her tough task cut out.

GABY TO THE RESCUE
Kaveesha was brought in to compliment the left arm spinners with her off breaks. She started well with 2 runs in the 7^th over and Nimisha matched her conceding just 2 in the 8^th over. Gaby found some assistance in the 9^th over bowled by Kaveesha. She hit a couple of boundaries, ran a couple of twos and got 13 from the over. Nimisha bowled the next one and conceded a couple of boundaries and 11 runs from the over. IRE improved to 58/3 at the half way mark. Chamari brought herself into the attack in the 11^th over and conceded 6 runs. Sugandika followed it with a 8 run over that comprised of a lovely pull shot by Gaby in the square leg which dropped just short of boundary line. Lewis pulled another boundary in the next over bowled by Chamari. Nilakshika replaced Sugandika with her military medium pace bowling. She did very well by conceding just 3 runs before she forced an edge from Leah which was brilliantly taken by keeper Kaushini. Gaby found a boundary in the 3^rd ball of the next over bowled by Kaveesha. In the process, she completed her half century. She found a boundary again in the 16^th over bowled by Nilakshika and Ireland were 100/6 at the end of 16 overs. In the middle overs, Gaby led from the front and ensured 70 runs from 10 overs despite the fall of 3 wickets.

30 RUNS & 1 WICKET
Nimisha spun out the 17^th over giving away just 5 singles. Gaby and Lewis werent provided any room to go for the big shots. Sugandika’s first ball in the 18^th over resulted in a glorious cover drive by Alice Tector. The next 5 balls together could give IRE just 3 runs as Gaby was getting a bit tired. In the 3^rd ball of penultimate over, captain Chamari bowled captain Gaby as the latter missed the ball after charging down. Alice kept the fight going and even without a boundary, she ensured 7 of the over. Alice ensured a finish with little flourish when she struck successive boundaries of Mithali in the final over. While the 3^rd ball was a lucky top edge, the 4^th ball was a proper charge smashed over mid on. IRE finished at 130/7 scoring 30 of the last four. It was one less than the score by SCO in the previous match. Sri Lanka looked like they had the game in pocket.

SRILANKAN INNINGS

CHAMARI ON SONG
Vishmi Gunaratne has performed well below her immense potential in the 3 WC matches and therefore Chamari had a new partner in Imesha who did comparatively better in the past 3 matches coming one down. Aimee Maguire opened the bowling for Ireland. Chamari began with a bang as she smashed Aimee’s first ball between cover and mid off for a boundary. Aimee came back well bowling a hat-trick of dots before conceding a couple of singles. Orla came in from the other end and Chamari found a boundary in the 3^rd ball when she whipped one strayed on the leg past fine leg. Arlene Kelly came in first change and there was no change in Chamari’s hitting spree. In fact, she struck 2 successive boundaries, one on either side of the wicket in the 3^rd & 4^th balls. Lara Mcbride who came in for the 4^th over faced exactly a similar fate. Chamari hammered her 3^rd & 4^th balls over extra cover,with so much power. Aimee came back for the 5^th over. After hitting a boundary each in the first 2 overs and two boundaries each in the next two overs, Chamari smashed 3 boundaries in 5^th over bowled by Aimee. She launched the first ball over mid wicket, heaved the 2^nd ball to deep square leg and swept the fourth one to deep mid wicket. SL scorecard read 50/0 in 5, a lovely tribute to the 10^th T20 World Cup. Chamari scored 46 of them Amidst the carnage, Orla’s 6^th over to close the power play was gold as it had only 5 runs. Imesha scored her first boundary via a cut shot in that over though.

A CAPTAIN’s INNINGS
Cara Murray bowled the 7^th over and when Chamari slog swept her over deep midwicket for a boundary, she brought her 50. The mandatory boundary per over continued as Imesha who was looking to cut from the beginning cut Lara for her second boundary. The Sri Lankan openers didn’t look in any trouble and after a flurry of fours, Chamari launched the first sixer in the 9^th over bowled by Cara. Interestingly Imesha was dropped in the previous ball by Leah. Arlene bowled her 10^th over and Chamari whipped her through covers for the boundary in that over. Sri Lanka had raced to 86 without loss at the end of the first half of their innings. Imesha has scored 14 and Chamari scoring 70 was at mathematically playing at 5x. Sri Lanka needed less than 5 an over. My wish list at this point was a Chamari century and my favourite in T20s, a 10 wicket win.

Cara Murray was entrusted the 11^th over and a boundary each by Imesha (a cut again) and Chamari (smash over the bowler) enabled 10 runs in the over. The 12^th over bowled by Orla was the most significant one for Ireland as it was the first over without a boundary. To make it much better, Orla had Imesha inside edging one to her stumps for the first Sri Lankan wicket. The partnership was 98 in 12 overs. Nilakshika, the best Lankan batter of the World Cup joined her in (red hot) form skipper. Aimee’s 13^th over started with a powerful flick over backward square for a boundary. Chamari once again charged straight over the bowlers head and hit a sixer this time. She hoisted the 5^th ball over extra cover for her 14^th boundary of the innings. SL needed just 17 from 8 overs and Chamari just needed 10 for a hundred. Nilakshika played cleverly just taking a single and handing over the reins to her captain. Orla’s 14^th over gave us a tense moment. After a single first ball by Nilakshi, Orla had Chamari at bay with a hat-trick of dot balls. But Chamari struck back in the 5^th ball hoisting one over the covers and took a single of the last ball. Arlene started the 15^th over with a wide before Chamari smashed her through covers. A dot ball later, Chamari drove an flighted ball safely to long on to bring her 4^th T20I century. Playing her 10^th World Cup, the legendary Sri Lankan skipper became the 6^th cricketer to  score a century in T20I World Cup. As Arlene finished the over, SL just needed 2 more to win. Lara came to close the proceedings. Nilakshika once again took a single to ensure that her skipper fittingly finished the match. Chamari obliged in the 3^rd ball in the most Chamari manner by charmingly going over cover for a boundary. SL won the match with 9 wickets and 27 balls to spare.

Chamari single handedly led SL to this win. It was heartening to watch because after the loss in the last match against WI, Chamari said she wasn’t good enough as a captain because her side wasn’t winning much as they should do. This captain’s innings by Chamari should offer her some solace. Her impact in Sri Lankan cricket in specific and Women’s Cricket in general is too big to be measured by wins or runs.

(Images Courtesy – ESPN Cricinfo)