New Zealand 189 for 1 (Bates 106*, Satterthwaite 78*) beat Sri Lanka 188 for 9 (Atapattu 53, Polgampola 49, Huddleston 5-35) by nine wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Suzie Bates hit 11 fours and one six in her unbeaten 109-ball 106 © Getty Images
New Zealand had never lost to Sri Lanka in nine previous ODI meetings. They had bowled Sri Lanka out for under 150 in eight of those games. For a while on Saturday in Bristol, they may have wondered if the tide had turned. Chamari Atapattu and Chamari Polgampola put together 92 for the second wicket as Sri Lanka serenely progressed to 141 for 1. Then, a moment of brilliance on the field from Suzie Bates – a tumbling catch low to her left to see off half-centurion Atapattu – triggered an alarming slide. Sri Lanka lost eight wickets for 46 to eventually huff and puff to 188 for 9. It was inadequate against a power-packed batting line-up.
Starring with the ball was Holly Huddleston, the medium pacer, whose use of crease, angles and subtle changes in pace fetched her a five-wicket haul – the third time she had done so in her career – on World Cup debut. Bates then blasted a century during the course of an unbroken second-wicket stand of 170 with Amy Satterthwaite as New Zealand cruised to an emphatic nine-wicket win in the 38th over.
Apart from being lackluster with the ball, Sri Lanka were poor in the field. A reprieve of Bates on 65 by wicketkeeper Prasadini Weerakkody off Shashikala Siriwardena added to their agony. Inoka Ranaweera, the captain, employed as many as seven bowlers; only Sripali Weerakkody managed to come back with something of note, stifling two in-form batsmen briefly with her mix of seam-ups and fast offspin to finish with 6-0-17-0.
While Huddleston was the pick of New Zealand’s bowlers, Amelia Kerr, the 16-year old legspinner, was equally impressive with her loopy legspin. The degree of control she maintained even when Atapattu and Polgampola were solid for a brief while, shone through on a flat deck where the batsmen had no hesitation in hitting through the line.
Sophie Devine, the allrounder, also played no less a role with the ball, breaking he second-wicket stand to expose an anxious middle-order that came out playing million dollar strokes when a brief period of consolidation before the final flourish was the need of the hour. The manic passage where Sri Lanka lost four wickets for eight runs in 27 balls, including both set batsmen, proved costly.
New Zealand lost Rachel Priest in the sixth over, but Bates, cautious initially, found her bearings to muscle 11 fours and a six in a near run-a-ball knock to make lightwork of the target. Satterthwaite too left her imprint in the way she bossed the bowling before retreating to watching from the other end her captain gun the target down in her quest for an eighth ODI century.
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo