Sri Lanka Women topple West Indies

ST GEORGE'S, Grenada:

Sri Lanka Women's captain Chamari Athapaththu starred with bat and ball to guide her side to a four-wicket victory over West Indies Women in the second match of their T20 series on Sunday.

Athapaththu, who was named Player of the Match, grabbed two wickets as the home side produced a below par batting performance for the second time in two days to be bundled out for 101 in 20 overs after being sent in at the National Cricket Stadium.

She then returned to hit the top score of 39 off 26 balls to see the visitors romp to 102 for six in 18.1 overs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series after Saturday's opener ended in a no-result.

However, apart from skipper Hayley Matthews, who scored a pedestrian 28 off 36 balls, no other batter scored 15, as they were once again undone by Sri Lanka's spinners.

Athapaththu struck early by dismissing Qiana Joseph for five and Malki Madara followed up by having Jahzara Claxton caught for four, as the Windies stumbled to 22 for two in the sixth over.

PRIZED SCALP

Athapaththu then snared the prized scalp of Matthews to end a 27-run partnership with Stafanie Taylor.

From there, the West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals, with their last seven wickets falling for just 37 runs.

Madara was Sri Lanka's best bowler with 3-16, while Nilakshika Silva took 3-20 and Athapaththu 2-13.

Sri Lanka then effectively put the contest to bed during a 62-run opening stand between Perera and Athapaththu.

EMBARRASSING

Meanwhile, West Indies Women were saved from almost certain defeat by the rain after producing one of their worst-ever batting performances in the opening T20 International on Saturday.

In an embarrassing showing, the home side were skittled out for just 49 in just 13.3 overs after they chose to bat first in a match that was reduced to 18 overs per side because of early showers.

It was their second lowest total in T20s. Their 2022 performance against England, in which they were bowled out for 43, was worse.

Sri Lankan spinner Kavisha Dilhari ran through West Indies Women's lower order. So pathetic was their batting display that no player got into double digits, with the highest individual score being seven. The homesters were entangled by Sri Lanka's spinning quartet of Kavisha Dilhari (3-5), Sugandika Kumari (2-8), Malki Madara (2-9) and Inoka Ranaweera (2-16).

The third and final match is scheduled to be played on Tuesday.

- CMC