Chamari Atapattu’s plethora of batting records

Sri Lanka ’s Chamari Atapattu’s blistering unbeaten 143-ball 178 comprising 22 fours and 6 sixes against Australia in the ongoing Women’ World Cup in England is a shot in the arm for women’s cricket in the country. More so at a juncture women’s cricket is still in an evolving process of matching the might of the world. Sri Lanka is currently slotted No.8 in the Women’s Team Rankings next to Pakistan and only ahead of Bangladesh at 9th and Ireland 10th. Incidentally, Sri Lanka made its One Day International (ODI) debut in 1997, against the Netherlands, and later in the year participated in the 1997 World Cup in India. The team has since participated in every edition of the World Cup, with a fifth-place finish at the 2013 event being its best performance. At the World Twenty20, Sri Lanka has likewise played at every tournament, although the team has never progressed past the first round. Sri Lanka played in its first and only Test match to date in April 1998, defeating Pakistan.

In that backdrop, the demanding slogan word is for the Lankan lasses to walk the walk to the next level of rubbing shoulder to shoulder with the heavyweights like table leaders Australia, followed by England, New Zealand, India and the West Indies in that order.

Significantly, Sri Lanka’s batting department has been its strong point topping the 200 mark in two of the three world cup matches played to date. But the bowling has been the weak area. Against Australia, Atapattu’s effort accounted for 70 per cent of runs in the 254-run total which is incredible. But Australia overhauled it by 8 wickets. Sri Lanka made 205 against England who reached the target by 7 wickets. In the opening game, Sri Lanka made 184 which New Zealand won by 9 wickets.

All in all, the plus factor in a lost cause that Atapattu and the rest of the team can take heart from is the record books batting heroics that saw Atapattu break a plethora of records.

CHAMARI ATAPATTU RECORDS:

>Scored almost 70 per cent of runs and taking out the 19 extras. Almost 75 per cent. That is incredible.

>Chamari’s 178* is also the second highest individual score in Women’s World Cup after Belinda Clark’s unbeaten 229 that she piled up against Denmark at Mumbai in 1997.

>Chamari toppled Charlotte Edwards to claim the No. 3 spot amongst the list of highest run-scorers in Women’s ODIs. Charlotte’s 173* against Ireland in December 1997 is now the fourth highest score in Women’s ODI.

>India’s Deepti Sharma holds the second position after she smashed 188 in the quadrangular series against Ireland in South Africa.

>Chamari became the first Sri Lanka batswoman to score a World Cup century. It is also the highest score by any Sri Lanka batter in ODIs against Australia.

>This is the highest score registered by a batswoman in England.

>The highest score registered against Australia in women’s ODI is also now held by Chamari. And this is also the second highest score across formats registered against Australia, the top place belongs to Rachael Heyhoe-Flint, who slammed 179 in a Test at The Oval.

Chamari Atapattu had thus commented to ICC on her record breaking knock, “Thanks a lot to our national coach Hemantha Devapriya. I need to thank my team-mates for believing in my ability. I played my normal game. We played against the Under-17 and Under-19 boys. That’s why I was able to handle fast bowlers. I tried to take singles in the first 30-35 overs and then looked to hit boundaries. I like to play both pace and spin. Siriwardena is the No. 1 player in the team. She has a lot of experience and was at her best after a return from injury. We will try our best here.”

By Srian Obeyesekere

-The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Sri Lanka Cricket-