Sri Lanka suffered a second humiliating defeat, this time at the hands of Australia after losing the first match to Pakistan in the Women’s T20 World Cup in Sharjah yesterday.
Sri Lanka were never in the match after winning the toss and deciding to bat first making a miserable total of 93 for 7 in the 20 overs and lost by six wickets as Australia had 5.4 overs to spare after reaching the target.
Opener Chamari Atapattu failed to fire for the second time running making just three runs in 12 balls and fell leg-before against some accurate bowling by the Australians after her partner Vishmi Gunaratne was also dismissed leg-before for two.
Harshitha Samarawickrema (23) and Nilakshika Silva (29 not out) were the only two batters to hang in while the rest caved in. Australia had some hiccups losing two wickets in the run chase for just 14 runs but the result was a foregone conclusion with Sri Lanka defending a low score.
Playing shots and hitting the ball in the air Australia got away many a time but opener Beth Mooney was too serious about her batting and top scored with an unbeaten 43 in 38 balls with four fours, the same number of fours hit by the entire Sri Lanka team, to finish off the match.
With two defeats and two games left against India and a revitalized New Zealand who beat India, Sri Lanka has only an outside chance of qualifying to the semi finals.