Southampton, Jun 17: Sri Lanka crippled New Zealand’s title defense at the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup with a final-over comeback victory in Southampton.
Sri Lanka beat New Zealand for the first time in a World Cup after Nilakshika Silva and Kaushini Nuthyangana combined for an unbeaten 48 runs off 28 balls to reach the 151 target with two balls and five wickets remaining at the Rose Bowl.
New Zealand has lost its first two group matches. Only one team in tournament history has advanced to the semifinals with two defeats — South Africa at home in 2023.
In the second match of the doubleheader, England earned two wins from two games after comfortably handling a spirited Ireland by four wickets.
Ireland struggled to 118-9 and England calmly overhauled that in 17.3 overs at 119-6.
No catches win no matchesNew Zealand was tainted again by dropped catches; six in the opening loss to the West Indies and three more against Sri Lanka.
“The West Indies game and today’s game, if we’d taken our chances we’d probably win both by 50 runs,” New Zealand captain Melie Kerr said. “We’ve dropped a lot. There’s no real excuse. Fielding is what won us the last World Cup.”
Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu was put down on 6 and made 27 to start their charge in the powerplay, and Silva was dropped on 1 and made 54 not out. Sri Lanka ended up 153-5 in reply to New Zealand’s 150-6.
“New Zealand is one of the best teams and the world champions, and the tournament favorites,” Athapaththu said. “We beat them and it means we can beat anyone in the comp, we just need to execute our plans.”
An unchanged New Zealand from the West Indies loss on Saturday chose to bat first on the same pitch but only Kerr and Sophie Devine got going with 45s. They were battering Sri Lanka together until they were caught on the boundary. The Kiwis collected only 11 runs off the last two overs.
New Zealand had already dropped two catches in Sri Lanka’s chase when Georgia Plimmer took a brilliant grab running in from long-on. The ball slipped between her hands but she trapped it with her knees during a run of four Sri Lanka wickets in four overs.
It should have been five in five but Silva turned Bree Illing’s drop on 1 into a player-of-the-match performance.
When Kavisha Dilhara ran herself out at 105-5 in the 15th over, New Zealand was still favored. But, under pressure and in a rain shower, Silva’s second T20 fifty in 13 years and Nuthyangana’s career-best 24 rushed Sri Lanka to the win after its opening hiding from England.
England too strong for Ireland
Rain delayed the evening start for an hour and England didn’t hesitate to bowl first. The spinners dominated led by Charlie Dean’s 2-11, player-of-the-match Sophie Ecclestone’s 3-22, and No. 1-ranked Linsey Smith’s 1-20.
Orla Prendergast and Louise Little top-scored for Ireland with 26s.
Ireland removed both England openers and Alice Capsey to shade the powerplay but the host’s most experienced players, former captain Heather Knight and successor Nat Sciver-Brunt steered their team away from brief jeopardy.
Knight was pinned on 26 and Sciver-Brunt, returning from a calf tear, led with 48 from 37 balls when she felt the calf tighten and retired as a precaution just moments from the end.
On Wednesday, there’s Australia vs. Bangladesh, India vs. Netherlands, and Pakistan vs. South Africa. (AP)
