A dazzling 178 not out against defending champion Australia has overshadowed several fine performances and the left-hander believes she showed glimpses of her two batting heroes – Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya, during the knock.

“I started like Sanga and ended like Sanath,” a beaming Atapattu said of her 143-ball knock in which she hit 22 fours and six sixes to help set a challenging 258-run target for Australia.

Atapattu has been around for long and even considered as Sri Lanka’s batting mainstay by many, but to see her come out with such gusto against the world’s top side was a big surprise.

Hailing from Gokarella in central Sri Lanka, Atapattu had to take over captaincy at the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 2016 after Shashikala Siriwardene was ruled out of the tournament with a hamstring injury. That was a learning curve for the former captain as she learned to cope with pressure.

The 27-year-old, who has scored 1906 runs in 61 ODIs and 1001 runs in 58 T20Is, is delighted with how things have panned out and elated at her latest effort.

“I am really happy with my performance. For the first 25-30 overs, I tried to go for singles and the odd boundary. After 35 overs, when the Power Play started, I tried to hit the ball over the ropes,” she said, giving credit to coaches Hemantha Devapriya and Jeevanta Kulatunga for her development as a batter.

Atapattu made her international debut against India during the ICC World Twenty20 2009 in Taunton, not far from where she caught the attention of the entire cricketing world on Thursday with the second-highest score in all World Cup matches.

After top-scoring with 53 in her team’s tournament opener against New Zealand, Atapattu produced the scintillating knock that will be remembered for long despite her team losing to Australia by eight wickets. “I love coming back to England,” she said. “I love the conditions here and we have played a game here before so I knew what the conditions would be like.”

Her 178 not out will go alongside her centuries against Ireland and South Africa but Atapattu rates the stunning knock in Bristol as her finest accomplishment to date.

“This is my best achievement. Australia has experienced bowlers like Ellyse Perry and Megan Schutt, who also play in leagues and county matches. I trusted myself and played to my potential.”

Atapattu was encouraged by her father and inspired by cricketing icons Jayasuriya and Sangakkara, who was quick to laud her on twitter after the Bristol knock.

Atapattu though has dedicated her latest knock to her cricket-crazy father, who passed 10 years ago with a cardiac arrest when she was only 17.

“He is the hero in my life. He helped me a lot in my career. He loved cricket. He always pushed me to go and play, supported me in all aspects.

“I liked cricket, but was very lazy. He pushed me to pursue a career in the game.”

Her mother, who retired as a nurse following her father’s death, encouraged the batter to continue playing despite the bereavement. Just two years on, Atapattu would make her international debut.

Atapattu, who likes to travel and mountaineering in her spare time, started slowly in Bristol, ticking things along before exploding in the final 15 overs.

Already a big name in her home town, Atapattu wants to help women’s cricket grow in Sri Lanka.

“A lot of girls are now playing cricket in my town, a few youngsters have come to the national level. We need more girls to play to help improve our cricket. In the next year we will see two or three players come through to play in the national team.”

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