Don’t write us off, warns Sri Lanka chief Devapriya

NOT a lot is expected of Sri Lanka in the ICC Women’s World Cup – but don’t tell that to head coach Hemantha Devapriya, who believes he has found a magic formula which can take them all the way.

When they walk out to face New Zealand tomorrow, Sri Lanka will be the underdogs – but they have shown before what can happen when written off, as they beat England and India in the group stages four years ago.

But that was not enough to transform them into one of the elite, and six months ago they called on Devapriya to replace Lanka de Silva at the helm.

The former first-class wicketkeeper immediately identified a fatal flaw in their game but now believes it is a real strength: scoring runs.

“Since I took over six months ago, I’ve found out that our run-rate has not been that great and our batters’ strike-rate was not so efficient,” he said.

“Other than Eshani Lokusuriyage and Chamari Atapattu who had strikerates of a little over 60, others were below that, some under 40, which indicated that if Atapattu and Lokusuriyage scored we managed over 200 runs.

“What they were lacking was creative shots and use of the feet.They were averaging only 41 singles per match.

“We worked on it and they improved it to 100 singles. We increased their shot range also, like using the pace of the ball.”

Sri Lanka have a long way to go based on their warmup display against India, where they collapsed to a heavy 109-run defeat on Wednesday.

But with an experienced squad, which includes former skipper Shashikala Siriwardene, Devapriya is full of optimism that they can cause another shock or two.