Chamari Athapaththu has expressed her disappointment after not being picked up in any overseas T20 league this year, despite continuing to shine for Sri Lanka. Sarah Waris looks at why Athapaththu has been continually overlooked.
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Athapaththu is undoubtedly a modern-day great. She’s made 3,199 runs in 95 ODIs, as well as 2,554 runs in T20Is. She is the tenth-highest run-scorer in women’s T20I history, and the only player from Sri Lanka with more than 1,100 runs. With eight fifties and one hundred in the format, Athapaththu also has the most fifty-plus scores for Sri Lanka, with Harshita Madavi second on the list with four.
Despite her achievements, overseas recognition has remained sporadic. She’s played only 22 games in different leagues since 2021 and has not been picked in any overseas domestic competition this year. Interestingly, this period has coincided with an upsurge in her returns in the shortest format, which makes her repeated exclusions even more baffling.
Athapaththu played for Melbourne Renegades in the WBBL last season and also made her debut in the Women’s Caribbean Premier League before being released. She has not been given a new contract. The 33-year-old was also not picked for the Women’s Premier League or the Women’s Hundred this year, which led to her publicly expressing her disappointment.
Really feel for her ☹️ pic.twitter.com/xucd3eDT5r
— Estelle Vasudevan (@Estelle_Vasude1) September 4, 2023
Katherine Sciver-Brunt also took to social media to show her surprise that Athapaththu was not picked in the WBBL draft this week.
Based on current form @58Chamari not getting picked up in the @WBBL is criminal! 🤯
— Katherine Brunt (@KBrunt26) September 4, 2023
One possible reason for her continued omission from T20 leagues could be the Sri Lanka skipper’s overall T20I strike rate. She scores her runs at a rate of 105.7, which falls to 103.42 in domestic games. Among all female batters with at least 3,000 T20 runs, Athapaththu has the fourth-worst strike rate, with the list being led by Alyssa Healy, who by contrast strikes at 134.05.
Strike-rates in T20 cricket are evolving rapidly in the women’s game, as higher scores and bigger hitters naturally follow the expansion of professionalism. In the WBBL draft, only one specialist overseas batter with a strike rate of less than 115 made the cut, Laura Wolvaardt. The South Africa star has been with Adelaide Strikers for three years and has become a pivotal member of the team, guiding them to the title last year with 403 runs.
However, despite her overall strike-rate showing a more sedate picture, Athapaththu has massively upgraded her T20 game over the last two years. In this period she’s averaged 29.29 with a strike rate of 124.21. That’s the fifth-best strike rate among all batters with at least 550 runs in the same time. Six fifties in 33 innings also indicate that she’s made big scores at a quick pace frequently.
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All six of those fifties came at a strike rate over 135, with four being scored at a rate of more than 166. Her recent onslaught in the second T20I against England last week was a blistering display of aggressive hitting, in which she brought up her fifty in only 26 balls. She took apart the new-ball pair of Kate Cross and Dani Gibson, scoring 36 in their first three overs as Sri Lanka chased down 105 without breaking into a sweat.
Athapaththu has also become an even more potent threat with the ball in the last two years, with Sri Lanka batting coach Malinda Warnapura confirming the hard yards she’s put into that as well. This year, Athapaththu has bowled three or more overs in a game on five occasions, and finishing her quota thrice. In the second T20I, she took the new ball and dismissed Danni Wyatt in her first over. She also dismissed Alice Capsey in the first T20I, bowling her full allocation on that occasion as well. Her captaincy experience should also be attractive to potential buyers.
Athapaththu has bore the weight of her nation’s fortunes on her shoulders for most of her career. In among all of that, she’s shown the ability to change her game as it’s demands increase around her, despite the lack of advancements made for women’s cricketers in Sri Lanka. But, so far, her prowess has been overlooked by new and established T20 leagues, and the tournaments are all the poorer for it.
