Masterclass by Jones helps England whitewash Sri Lanka

Amy Jones provideed a batting masterclass as England beats Sri Lanka by 8 wickets to complete a 3-0 clean sweep in the ODI series.

Already having won the series 2-0 with a game to spare, England met Sri Lanka at Katunayake in the final of the 3 match ICC Women’s Championship series.

The hosts Sri Lanka made two changes to the squad. Hasini Perera came in for Weerakkody and Sugandika Kumari replaced Ranaweera while England fielded the unchanged team from the previous game. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first.

In the 4^th over Perera fell first to Cross for 4 (14b) as she was clean bowled and the skipper Atapattu who was struggling to get runs was trapped leg before wicket by Cross in the 9^th over. Cross picked up her 2^nd wicket in the opening spell to restrict the hosts for 18-2 after 10 overs.

Siriwardene smashed Marsh for a six in the 13^th over but Marsh had the last laugh as she dismissed Siriwardene in her next over. At 33-3 after 15 overs Madavi joined Sanjeewani and scored two boundaries in Marsh’s next over. In the 20^th over Sanjeewani brought 50 runs for the hosts by dispatching Hartley’s delivery for a boundary. However, the brief partnership of 19 runs was broken on the next delivery when Marsh caught Sanjeewani for 15 (37b).

Madavi and Karunaratne steadied the inning with cautious approach. In the 35^th over Madavi scored a boundary off Marsh to post 100 runs on the scoreboard. In the next over Karunaratne picked up a boundary off Shurbsole to complete a 50-run partnership in 15 overs. Immediately on the next delivery Shrubsole trapped Karunaratne leg before wicket.

Madavi fell to Hartley on 42 (72b) in the 40^th over as the hosts were contained at 127-6. Ranasinghe played an entertaining inning of 29 (25b) with 5 boundaries to put up a quick 35 run partnership with de Silva in just 5 overs before she was run out. Just two deliveries later de Silva also got run out for 18.

From 162-7 in 46^th over, the Sri Lanka inning got wrapped up to 174 all out at the end of 50 overs. Cross, Shrubsole and Hartley picked up 2 wickets each whereas only Madavi crossed 30-run mark and scored 42.

Needed 175 to win the game and whitewash the series, Jones and Beaumont started the chase. The pair started watchfully and only in the 6^th over they flexed the muscle by Jones hitting a six and Beaumont following up with a boundary. Continuing her superb form from the previous matches, Jones hit another six in the next over and 2 boundaries in a over following that.

They brought up their third consecutive fifty run partnership in 3 ODIs in the 9^th over in which Jones had a lion share of 38 runs in 28 deliveries. Beaumont, too joined the act and dispatched 2 boundaries in the next over. Jones brought reached the third consecutive half century in as many matches as she took 10 runs of Siriwardene’s over to take the total to 82-0 in just 12 overs. Her fifty came in 36 deliveries and saw 6 fours and 2 sixes being scored.

The skipper Atapattu brought herself in the attack to slowdown the England openers’ onslaught but Jones smashed her for a six to bring their second 100-run partnership for the first wicket in three games and herself quickly raced to 70 in 50 deliveries. Beaumont collected two more boundaries in the next over to take the score to 115-0 in 16 overs.

The partnership of 127 runs was broken when Jones’ blistering knock of 76 (58b 8x4 3x6) came to an end as Siriwardene knocked her stumps in the 19^th over. Beaumont however, did not slow down and reached her 50 in the next over. Along with Winfield, she added quick 37 runs in 6 overs. Just when the visitors needed 11 runs to win Siriwardene struck again to clean bowl Beaumont for 63 (66b 9x4).

Winfield smashed a big six over deep-midwicket to clinch the match for England and therefore a clean sweep of 3-0 over the hosts Sri Lanka. England won the match by 8 wickets and 23.5 overs to spare.

With this victory, England now sit comfortably at 18 points after 15 matches in ICC Women’s Championship while Sri Lanka’s miserable form continued as they lost 6^th consecutive ODI and has won only 1 match out of 15.

Both the teams will meet in Colombo for 3 match T20I series from 24^th March.

 

Brief Score: Sri Lanka 174 all out (50 overs) (Madavi 42, Cross 2-25, Shrubsole 2-30, Hartley 2-39) lost to England 177-2 (26.1 overs) (Jones 76, Beaumont 63, Siriwardene 2-56) by 8 wickets