Aussies steamroll Lankans

Sri Lanka Women suffered an embarrassing 157-run defeat against hosts Australia in their first One Day International of the ICC Women’s Championship match played at Allan Boarder Field in Brisbane yesterday.

The convincing win was Australia’s 16th consecutive victory.

Chasing a mammoth 282 to win, Sri Lanka were soon in trouble, losing wickets at regular intervals, helping their opponent to register a thumping victory in front of the home crowd.

Sri Lanka skipper Shashikala Siriwardena (30) and Harshitha Madavi (22) made useful runs in the process but overall it was a disappointing effort with the bat by the Sri Lankan lasses.

The hopes of Sri Lanka’s chase was fell on the shoulders of star batter Chamari Athapathuthu but she could only managed just 13 runs leaving Sri Lanka in a spot of bother.

Australian spinners Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham and Jess Jonassen picked two wickets apiece to prevent the visitors from settling on a warm, gusty day in Brisbane .

Earlier Australia half-centuries by Meg Lanning (73 off 66 balls), Rachael Haynes (56 off 76) and Beth Mooney (66 off 68) helped Australia Women post a challenging total of 281 for 8.

Sri Lanka’s left arm medium pacer Udeshika Prabodhani bowled an economical spell to claim two wickets.

This was the first match after Shashikala Siriwardena took over the ODI captaincy from Chamari Atapattu. Siriwardena bowled a decent spell and top scored with 30 runs for Sri Lanka.

The second and third ODIs are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday at the same venue.