There is, however, one positive from this game: Sri Lanka had a significant victory. In their first outing, they lost to New Zealand by just two wickets, but this time they were able to achieve that elusive victory in style. With the result of the match improving their overall morale, Sri Lanka should now feel they have the confidence to compete well against these top nations for the remainder of the series.
In a match where the weather played a significant role, Sri Lanka displayed exceptional patience by successfully chasing down 153 runs in 19.4 overs. They put together an excellent partnership between Nilakshika Silva and Kaushani Nuthyangana to see them to victory with 1 ball remaining.
The final scoreline reveals that Sri Lanka’s journey to victory was far from straightforward. Their innings was still salvageable, but it would require significant effort from the finishers to secure their victory. It is important to note that this finishing partnership worked through 2 or 3 near-failures to achieve their shared goal of ensuring they won the match. In contrast, the New Zealand team must now be greeted with the knowledge that they have a lot to learn about how to overcome psychological adversity, especially after suffering a loss like this to their most controversial competitor.
Both teams displayed all three pillars of success (performance, team culture, and surrounding factors) on this occasion. Therefore, I would like to believe that Sri Lanka have now taken a giant step forward from where they currently are.
Despite looking set to chase the total down convincingly for most of the match, Sri Lanka’s chase started to unravel quickly when captain Chamari Athapaththu scored 27 off of 19 balls, including an early reprieve on her seventh run. Athapaththu’s aggressive start had her team at 45 for 1 in their chase of 83 when New Zealand responded strongly, causing Sri Lanka to collapse to 55 for 4 after losing 6 wickets in quick succession (Vishmi Gunaratne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, and Hasini Perera). What initially looked to be an encouraging chase now turned into a psychological battle.
Kavisha Dilhari and Nilakshika Silva rescued their team’s efforts to chase down the target by forming a crucial 50-run partnership that stabilised the innings. Unfortunately, Dilhari was run out for 17 in the 15th over of the match. Silva then took over the reins of the chase and displayed a composed approach, using calculated placement over panic throughout the final stages of the match. With only 16 runs required off the last two overs, Silva and Nuthyangana increased their scoring significantly at the perfect moment and scored 11 runs off of the 19th over, which left them with just five runs to win the match with six balls remaining on the final delivery.
For their part, New Zealand had posted a total score of 150 runs from 6 wickets after they had selected to bat first. The mainstay of New Zealand’s innings came from both Amelia Kerr and Sophie Devine, making it challenging for the Sri Lankan bowlers throughout the innings, where they each scored 45 runs. Georgia Plimmer added 18 runs, while Maddy Green scored 18 not out. However, even with these contributions, the bowling unit of Sri Lanka would just not allow New Zealand to finish their innings with a bang. Five of the six bowlers used by Sri Lanka took wickets. Leading the charge was Dilhari, who achieved bowling figures of 2 wickets for 35 runs and was an important part of the Sri Lankan bowlers’ discipline, which continually disrupted the momentum of the Kiwi side.
What has made the result all the more remarkable is not only the fact that Sri Lanka defeated the reigning World Cup champions but also the manner in which they won the match. They absorbed a great deal of pressure throughout their innings and then showed resilience when there was a major collapse in their chase, only to continue to display maturity by finishing the chase in a fashion that would often be rewarded with a favourable outcome in a World Cup. The win in Southampton was a huge boost for Sri Lanka, helping them gain confidence and climb the points table. It has been a real statement that Sri Lanka is still in this tournament, and they now know how to finish off the biggest of games.
