Hayley Jensen, Sophie Devine shine as New Zealand topple Sri Lanka

New Zealand started their T20 World Cup campaign on a winning note defeating Sri Lanka by seven wickets at WACA in Perth on Saturday (February 22). It was yet again Sophie Devine who starred for New Zealand with an unbeaten 75. The big-hitting batter brought her sixth fifty-plus score in the process and was well supported by Maddy Green with a useful cameo of 29 as the duo shared a fourth-wicket stand worth 61 runs. Earlier, Hayley Jensen picked up three wickets for 16 runs and restricted Sri Lanka to just 127 for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs. New Zealand's victory was their eighth consecutive one over Sri Lanka.

Batting first, Sri Lanka opener Hasini Perera offered a tough chance at backward point to Green, who almost took a one-handed catch. But the ball popped out of her hands with Lea Tahuhu being the unlucky bowler. At the other end, skipper, Chamari Atapattu was up and running with two boundaries and a six as Sri Lanka finished the power play strongly at 51 without loss.

In search of a wicket, Devine turned to Amelia Kerr and she responded by breaking the 61-run stand with the wicket of Perera. Meanwhile, Atapattu continued to motor along nicely and took on Amelia collecting nine runs off the 10th over.  Tahuhu then took the all-important wicket of Atapattu for 41, which left the Lankan skipper distraught.

Hayley Jensen. © ICC

Anushka Sanjeewani and Harshitha Madhavi though started to build the innings by taking on ones and twos before New Zealand bowlers came back strongly in the middle by picking up four wickets for just 13 runs. Madhavi finished on an unbeaten 27 runs and took the island nation above the 120-run mark. Besides Jensen, Amelia also chipped in with two wickets for 21 runs.

In riposte, New Zealand openers Rachel Priest and Devine started cautiously and collected 18 runs in the first four overs, before a brilliant piece of fielding by Madhavi sent the former back to for just six. Sri Lankan spinners led by Shashikala Siriwardene and Sugandika Kumari tightened the screws in the middle and the pressure to score quickly got to Devine, who offered a chance on 22, only to see Ama Kanchana drop an easy chance at the boundary. That proved costly for Sri Lanka.

Soon enough, Suzie Bates departed off Kavisha Dilhari and it seemed as if Sri Lanka had an opening. But Devine and Green squashed any such hopes, with the former crossing yet another half century. The duo then ensured that there was only one winner, with the Kiwis crossing the line with 14 balls in the bank.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 127/7  in 20 overs (Chamari Atapattu 41, Harshitha Madhavi 27*; Hayley Jensen 3/16, Amelia Kerr 2/21) lost to New Zealand 131/3 in 17.4 overs (Sophie Devine 75*, Maddy Green 29; Kavisha Dilhari 1/19) by seven wickets. PoTM: Hayley Jensen.