GALLE, Sri Lanka, CMC – Two of the world’s top women’s all-rounders will come face-to-face when West Indies Women and hosts Sri Lanka Women open their six-match, white ball series today.
West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews, the current No. 1 women’s all-rounder in the world, will confront her opposite Chamari Athapaththu, the current No. 5 and ICC Player-of-the-Month for May, when the two sides meet in the first of three ICC Women’s Championship One-day Internationals at the Galle International Stadium.
The Caribbean side are riding high after their highly successful Tour of Pakistan, where they swept a similar series of three ICC Women’s Championship ODIs against the hosts in April about the same time that the Asian side played to a 1-1 tie in a three-match series on their Tour of South Africa
Both West Indies Women and Sri Lanka Women are tied on 14 points in the 10-team ICC Women’s Championship table, but Matthews and her side have played 15 matches – three less than Athapaththu and hers.
The series will be crucial to the two sides because the ODIs will form part of the ICC Women’s Championship, which results in direct qualification for the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup next year in India.
Squads:
SRI LANKA WOMEN (from): Chamari Athapaththu (captain), Nilakshi De Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Vishmi Gunaratne, Hansima Karunaratne, Kawya Kavindi, Achini Kulasuriya, Sugandika Kumari, Sachini Nisansala, Hasini Perera, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Inoka Ranaweera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Anushka Sanjeewani.
WEST INDIES WOMEN (from): Hayley Matthews (captain), Shemaine Campbelle (vice-captain), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shamilia Connell, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Chinelle Henry, Zaida James, Qiana Joseph, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Stafanie Taylor, Rashada Williams, Kate Wilmot.