Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu admitted her side paid the price for a poor batting display after suffering a five-wicket defeat to West Indies in their Women’s T20 World Cup clash in Bristol. Chasing just 99, the unbeaten West Indies side got home with 23 balls to spare, leaving Sri Lanka with two losses from three matches.The damage was done early as Sri Lanka slipped to 9/3 in the powerplay and never truly recovered, eventually being bowled out for 98. Athapaththu felt the conditions were challenging, but said her side failed to adjust and execute their plans with the bat.“The wicket is a little bit sticky today, and the ball is a little bit sticky too, with the tennis ball bouncing. So I feel the West Indies are bowling according to their plans and to the conditions. We have not executed our plans in the power play. We lost a couple of wickets early, and throughout the game we struggled as a batting unit. So I feel we need to score 140 plus, otherwise we can’t defend against this West Indies team. But unfortunately, we lost a couple of wickets and we struggled a lot in the middle,” she said post-match.Even though West Indies comfortably reached the target, Sri Lanka’s bowlers managed to claim five wickets and briefly slowed the chase. Athapaththu was quick to defend her bowling attack, insisting that the lack of runs was the bigger issue.“Definitely our bowlers bowled in right line and length, but some extras also given there, so the thing is, the 100 is not enough to defend. So we need to score more runs, otherwise we can’t blame the bowlers,” she added.
Semi-final hopes hanging by a thread
Athapaththu singled out the bowling unit as one of the positives from the match but stressed that improvements with the bat are urgently needed.“Our bowling department done a really good job for us, but we need to improve our batting before next game,” Athapaththu stated.Sri Lanka now face a must-win situation, with victories over Ireland and Scotland essential to keep their semi-final hopes alive.
