Ireland Women secured perhaps the most famous triumph in their history, downing Sri Lanka by 15 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ODI series.
It marks only their second bilateral ODI series win against a side who had played in an ODI World Cup. The other is their 4-0 win over Pakistan in 2000, the Asian side having finished 11th at the 1997 World Cup. However, Sri Lanka, considered by many as dark horses for October’s T20 World Cup, are by far the strongest side they have bested in a head-to-head rubber.
Orla Prendergast was the hero in the opener, taking 3-25 and hitting an unbeaten 122 in a last-over, three-wicket win. The second ODI was a true team effort, even as Prendergast had a quiet game. She made nine and took a solitary wicket, but three half-centuries, from Amy Hunter, Rebecca Stokell, and Player of the Match Leah Paul, boosted Ireland to 255-5.
Sri Lanka were well set in the chase, with a century from Harshitha Samarawickrama and a half-century from Kavisha Dilhari taking them to 172-3. But Ireland rallied, largely through the Maguire sisters Jane and Aimee, who claimed three wickets between them. Samarawickrama was run out to properly turn the game Ireland’s way, and Arlene Kelly mopped up the tail to finish with three-for
Samarawickrama’s hundred was notable for another reason, following on from Vishmi Gunaratne’s ton in the opener. Between them, they helped alter the extraordinary dominance of Chamari Athapaththu among the list of Sri Lanka’s highest white-ball scores. Before this series, she had made 13 limited-overs hundreds for her country: Nine in ODIs and three in T20Is. No other Sri Lanka women’s batter had made even one.
Now two names have joined the list, but the wait for a centurion besides Athapaththu to contribute to a Sri Lanka victory goes on, thanks to Ireland’s stellar showing.
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