Twin fifties from Vishmi Gunaratne and Manudi Nanayakkara, and Nisansala’s four-wicket haul gave Sri Lanka a tense win against New Zealand XI in the 2nd warm-up game.
The home side led by skipper Jess Watkin had a comfortable victory in their first 50-over warm-up game against Sri Lanka. The visitors, led by the stand-in skipper Anushka Sanjeewani, batted first in the 2nd warm-up game.
Openers IW Dulani and Vishmi Gunaratne got their side off to a decent start with a 45-run opening partnership. Skipper Jess Watkin provided the first breakthrough for her side by removing IW Dulani in the 10th over of the innings.
Sri Lanka lost a couple of wickets in quick succession and found themselves in a tricky situation at 84/3 in the 20th over of the innings. Skipper Anushka Sanjeewani joined Manudi Nanayakkara at the crease and the duo stitched a much-needed 66-run partnership for the 4th wicket to take their side to the 150-run mark.
Sri Lanka eventually ended up with a total of 201/8 in their quota of 50 overs. Manudi Nanayakkara (58 off 59 balls), and Vishmi Gunaratne (52 off 58 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Sri Lanka. Skipper Jess Watkin (8-2-26-3), JA Simmons (8-0-39-3), and FDM Devonshire (7-0-46-1) were impressive with the ball for New Zealand XI.
Chasing a target of 202, the home side fell agonisingly short of the target by four runs. The 57-run opening partnership between Emma McLeod (17 off 27 balls), and skipper Jess Watkin (36 off 20 balls), followed by a 48-run partnership for the 3rd wicket between Kate Anderson (24 off 24 off 47 balls) and IG Sharp (35 off 43 balls) was the highest partnership of the innings in a run chase.
Eve Wolland (26 off 29 balls), FBM Devonshire (21 off 40 balls), and Nensi Patel (17 off 17 balls) were impressive with the bat for the home side. SL Nisansala (8-0-43-4), Achini Kulsuriya (8-1-39-2) Kavisha Dilhari (8-0-35-1), and AGC Vimukthi (8-1-37-1) were impressive with the ball for the visitors.
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