In the ongoing 2024 U19 Women’s Tri-Nations T20 Series involving England, Australia, and hosts Sri Lanka, the match between Sri Lanka and Australia at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota, the latter won the toss and elected to field first.
Sri Lanka posted a total of 132/7 in their allotted 20 overs. Sanjana Kavindi top-scored with a brisk 39 runs off 29 deliveries, forming a 47-run partnership with Dewmi Wijerathna. Later the innings were supported by contributions from Manudi Nanayakkara (19 runs) and Rashmi Nethranjalai (16 runs). Juliette Morton and Maggie Clark both claimed two wickets each for Australia and despite losing wickets at regular intervals, Sri Lanka managed to set a competitive target.
Chasing a target of 133 runs, Australia faced an early setback losing Ines Mckeon early for 10 runs in the 3rd over. However, Grace Lyons steadied the ship with a composed 30 runs off 26 balls. As the team lost a couple more wickets, skipper Lucy Hamilton anchored the innings with an unbeaten knock of 56 runs off 41 deliveries including eight boundaries, building a 65* run partnership with Ella Briscoe who provided support with 14* runs, guiding Australia to victory. Shashini Gimhani and Rashmika Sewwandi both claimed two wickets each for Sri Lanka, but their efforts couldn’t restrict Australia from reaching the target.
Despite losing in the first encounter against Sri Lanka, where they lost by 7 runs, this time around Australia successfully chased down the target set by Sri Lanka, winning the match by 7 wickets. Lucy Hamilton’s composed innings played a pivotal role in securing the victory for her team.