Having failed in their bid to qualify for the World Cup, Sri Lanka’s women’s cricketers had the consolation of making it to the Commonwealth Games by winning all four qualifying round matches in Malaysia last week.
The Commonwealth Games will be held in July in England where Sri Lanka will be up against stronger teams like Australia, New Zealand, India and the host country.
But coach Hashan Tillekaratne contends that what matters most is building up a team for the future with several young players coming through.
“Unable to qualify for the World Cup we had the Commonwealth Games in focus and with the right approach we qualified by working a bit more harder and the players overcame the test,” said Tillekaratne.
Skipper Chamari Atapattu played a sterling role as she led from the front with her consistency with the bat and won the most crucial match against Bangladesh despite defending a low score of 136 from a 160-target that was envisaged before the contest.
“Our spinners bowled really well to defend the total (against Bangladesh) and Chamari (Atapattu) is always an asset with her experience in franchise T20 cricket. She is certainly showing the way for the young players in the team,” said Tillekaratne.