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Journalism of Courage
Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu on Friday admitted that her team made plenty of mistakes in all three departments of the game during a disappointing Women’s World Cup campaign and said “we are in this position” because of the losses to India and England.
Co-hosting the tournament along with India, Sri Lanka concluded their campaign after their last round-robin fixture against Pakistan was called off due to rain, a regular feature at this venue during the ongoing event.
Asked about the weather conditions in Colombo, Chamari said, “I will try to control what I can control. I feel as a team, the expectations are high when we come to this World Cup. Unfortunately, we lost the first game against India and another game against England.
“In this World Cup, we made a lot of errors in the India and England matches, and that’s why we lost those two games. Those games have really affected us, that’s why we are in such position.” Three of their seven matches were washed out and they achieved one win while suffering three defeats.
“We’ve made a lot of mistakes, in the field, as a batting unit, and as a bowling unit. This isn’t the way we want to play, unfortunately, but we’re focusing on what we can do better in the future.” Chamari held out hope for the future.
“We have good young players and good senior players. The seniors always go and talk to the youngsters and give advice. As captain, I’m trying to free all the girls. I always tell them to play positive cricket. That’s what I want to see.
“We have a good domestic structure now, and we’re playing a lot of cricket in Sri Lanka. So, hopefully, we can become a good team in the future.” She added, “Actually, compared to South Africa, India, and New Zealand – these are three teams we’ve beaten in the last 12 months. We also beat England in England in the T20 format, though that’s a different format. But on any given day, the team that plays its best cricket will win.
“We need to improve our batting a bit, especially in the longer format where patience is key, we got to play our natural game. I think we’re very close to the top four teams, but we need to keep improving. If we make too many mistakes in one game, we can’t win.”
Pakistan endured a forgettable campaign as they failed to win a single game and the only time they looked poised for victory, against England, the match was called off.
Captain Fatima Sana too reminded that the weather also did not help her team’s cause.
Reflecting on the tournament, Sana said, “We were very good in bowling and in fielding, but we lacked in batting.
“We were very close against Australia and England, but unfortunately, we could not cross the line, and that is the main thing.” Asked about the team’s performances against Australia and England, she said, “As a captain and youngest captain, these matches give me a lot of boost. The only thing is weather did not go in our favour in the England match and the other matches.
“ICC must arrange good venues for World Cup because we are waiting for four years. We are not playing much cricket in the recent past. Definitely we need much more cricket after the World Cups.
“Next year, we have T20 World Cup as well, and hopefully we get more cricket and prepare well for the next big event.”
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