Women’s cricket in Sri Lanka lives with hope and if guided in the proper direction should be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
The game’s authorities are now pampering women’s cricket in Sri Lanka with an army of coaches and officials that would be the envy of other sports that are active in the country.
In short, Sri Lanka pays a lot of emphasis to women’s cricket and it also gets a lot of exposure thus helping its development.
Former national cricketer Hashan Tillakaratne as coach has been entrusted to guide the women’s cricketers to stardom. Under his watchful eyes Sri Lanka women won the 2022 Commonwealth Games qualifier by winning the contest on the last day of the qualifiers and booked a place to the Commonwealth Games tournament. He is of the view that women’s cricket in Sri Lanka is a growing thing.
“We have grown by leaps and bounds during the last five years. Women’s cricket has moved a long way during that time and the best example is how they managed to qualify for the Birmingham Games in 2022.
“Now they are in line to face up to the skills of women’s teams of Australia, England, New Zealand, India, South Africa, West Indies and Pakistan,” said Tillakaratne.
Sri Lankan captain Chamari Atapattu was named “Player of the Series” in the qualifiers and scored the most runs with a whopping 221. She should be the ‘cynosure of all eyes’ at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
“Prior to the Commonwealth Games qualifiers, we could not get qualified for the Cricket World Cup and I think that reason really fuelled the girls to show the world that they are good enough. The qualifiers were definitely a testing time for them, but we were well prepared and the girls played very good cricket so we successfully concluded by winning in Malaysia beating Bangladesh,” Tillakaratne said.
About the composition of the team including the renowned Chamari Atapattu, Tillakaratne said: “We have eight batswomen, two wicket-keepers, four genuine spinners and two spin all-rounders and three fast bowlers. Of course, Chamari is the main player we have and she’s respected worldwide. Her experience is always shared among the girls and it gives them a great platform as well.” (NOC)