The tournament which starts on February 7 in Colombo is the first to be held in Sri Lanka. Ten countries including Sri Lanka are taking part with the first four countries qualifying for the women’s world cup to be held in England in June 2017.

A few players who excelled in the recently concluded series against Australia have been included in the squad. All rounder Ama Kanchana, medium Pacer Oshadi Ranasinghe and senior opening batsman Yasodha Mendis have been left out of the squad. They have been replaced by off spinners Malsha Yahani, Inushi Fernando and middle order bat Harshika Madhavi.

Former skipper Sashikala Siriwardena who was injured has not been included in the squad as she is still recovering. The selection committee has decided to include only two pacewomen Udeshika Prabodani and Sripali Weerakkody.

The Sri Lanka Women’s squad – Inoka Ranaweera Captain, Chamari Atapattu , Hashini Perera, Ishani Lokusuriya, Udeshika Prabodani, Sripali Weerakkody, Malsha Yahani, Inushi Fernando, Harshika Madavi, Sugandhika Kumari, Dilani Manodara, Chamari Polgampola, Prasadhini Weerakkody and Nipuni Hansika.

“How can you compete with countries like Australia, England and New Zealand when you play so little cricket, where is the exposure and the experience,” De Silva questioned.

One of the main reasons for Sri Lanka Women’s 0-4 defeat in the four-match ODI series against the visiting Australian Women’s cricketers was the inability of our women batters to stay at the wicket for longer periods and build an innings.

Sri Lanka Women batted out the full quota of 50 overs only once in the four ODIs and this was partly due to their inexperience of playing matches.

“The difference between Australian Women and ours was that we were quite content hitting boundaries rather than running the singles,” said De Silva, a former wicket-keeper/batsman who played three Tests and 11 ODIs and one of the few batsmen to score over 10,000 first-class runs.

“If you run the singles and twos only can you build an innings and occupy the crease, that’s what the Australian Women did. They would score a fifty but it would comprise only two or three fours whereas our women would make a quick 30 with six fours and get out,” he said.

“This happens due to our women cricketers’ inexperience and that can be countered by playing more matches. There are eight teams in the domestic tournament and they play in two groups. If you are lucky to reach the final you will get a maximum of five matches if not only three for the entire season.

“There are moves to make the domestic tournament matches two-day affairs, the sooner it is done the better for our cricket. Our women cricketers have the skill and the talent, what they lack is match experience,” De Silva stated.

“A coach cannot be sending messages to the middle constantly. They must learn to think on their feet and act according to the situation. That’s what the Australian women did.”

De Silva pointed out the main cause for Sri Lanka Women’s defeats at the hands of Australia was the failure of the batters to put sufficient runs on the board.

Sri Lanka made scores of 76, 176/9, 102 and 131 which was inadequate to give the bowlers a chance at the Australian batters.

“The batters didn’t perform their task. We played six batters but only one made runs consistently, maybe two can fail but not five,” lamented De Silva. “Our bowlers did a decent job.”

De Silva said that only one batter (Chamari Polgampola) made a half century in the entire series while several of the other batters got into their 30s and 40s but could not make it big.

Another drawback that De Silva revealed was the age at which our women cricketers take to the game.

“On an average they start by the age of 18 and by the time they mature they are almost 30. It is not an age to start teaching the basics of cricket,” said De Silva.

“There are moves to get schools to start playing cricket and at the moment there are about 30 schools playing fifty-over cricket in a competition. Mrs Apsari Tillakaratne (wife of former Sri Lanka Test captain Hashan Tillakaratne) is spearheading the drive,” he said.

Those words were expressed by Sri Lanka women’s captain Chamari Attapattu during the launch of the series at the JAIC Hilton yesterday. This will be a historic event as the two countries are playing a bilateral women’s series for the first time.

The Aussie lasses will participate in a practice match tomorrow at the R. Premadasa International Stadium before they leave for Dambulla to commence the four-match ODI series on September 18. They will play their final match in Colombo on September 28.

Aussie skipper Megan Lanning thanked Sri Lanka Cricket for inviting them and said that they are eagerly looking forward for a challenging tour.

“We know that we will have a tough time here with the conditions, but hopefully we will give a good performance. This is a good test for us to see how we can adjust to these conditions,” said the Aussie captain.

When asked what is the secret of their success in being ranked number one, Megan said that they have practiced hard with great commitment and have been rewarded with continuous success throughout.

Chamari went on to say that this is a very important series for them in preparation for the ICC 2017 Women’s World Cup.

“We are sorry that our captain Shashikala (Siriwardena) is out of this series due to a back injury, but we have a good team consisting of experience and talent. We have selected very talented players as new caps. Although they lack experience if they perform to their potential, we can still pose a big challenge to the Aussies,” said Chamari.

“The Australian players are physically stronger than us and they can go for big hits whenever needed, but we are confident that our spinners will try and keep them under the 200-run mark as much as possible,” she said.

SLC secretary Mohan de Silva said that they have invested in women’s cricket a lot in recent times and hope to extend the support to popularize the sport throughout the country.

“SLC has launched a program to develop women’s cricket, especially in schools and we are going to introduce ‘Big’ matches among girls’ schools in order to pick hidden talent,” said De Silva. “I hope our women’s national team will reap the maximum benefit from this tour and wish both teams good luck.”

Australian coach Mott Matthew expressed his gratitude to SLC and said they have trained a lot to face these tough conditions and hoped to have a great series.

“We are very impressed by the passion of Sri Lankan cricket fans and hope to enjoy a memorable time here with Sri Lankan hospitality,” Mott stated.

Squads:

Sri Lanka: Chamari Atapattu (captain), Prasadini Weerakkody (vice-captain), Dilani Manodara, Nipuni Hansika, Chamari Polgampola, Eshani Lokusooriya, Udeshika Prabodini, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Kumari, Achini Kulasooriya, Inoshi Fernando, Imalka Mendis, Ama Kanchana, Harshitha Madhavi.

Australia: Meg Lanning (captain), Alex Blackwell (vice-captain), Kristen Beams, Nicole Bolton, Rene Farrell, Holly Ferling, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney, Erin Osborne, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani.

Fixtures:

Sep 15: Warm-up match

at R Premadasa Stadium

Sep 18: 1st ODI at Dambulla

Sep 20: 2nd ODI at Dambulla

Sep 23: 3rd ODI at R Premadasa Stadium

Sep 25: 4th ODI at R Premadasa Stadium

Sep 27: One-off T20I at SSC

Sep 28: Departure

Shashikala 68 and 2/33
Navy SC: 219/7 in 50 overs (L. Madhushani 86, S. Siriwardhane 68, S. Ravichandra 3/45)
Army SC: 162 in 48.5 overs (N. Hansika 88, S. de Alwis 3/20, E.Lokusuriya 2/7, S. Siriwardena 2/33)
Polgampola gets ton and 2/9
Air Force SC: 393/3 in 50 overs (Chamari Polgampola 104 n.o., S. Abeywickrama 102 n.o.,)
Palink SC: 92 in 36.2 overs (I. Fernando 3/6, C. Polgampola 2/9, Chamila Pieris 2/15)
Colts bowlers grab honours
Colts CC: 152 in 41 overs (A. Anjali 18, A. Dasuni 3/26)
Matara SC: 111 in 41.1 overs (M. Shehani 48, I. Shyamali 2/12, J. Mala 2/14, T.Rajapakshe 2/31, S.Thivanka 2/31)