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.”

The venue was the Galle International Stadium which was hosting its first ODI since 2000 and Zimbabwe made it a memorable one for them as they swept to an emphatic six wickets win with 14 balls to spare to go one-up in the five-match series yesterday.

Sikhander Raza rejoices a famous victory for Zimbabwe after making the winning hit – a six. AFP

Yesterday also happened to be chairman of selectors Sanath Jayasuriya’s 48th birthday and what an anti-climactic birthday present he received from the team he selected.

The foundation for Zimbabwe’s dramatic win was laid by opener Solomon Mire who scored his maiden ODI century and Sean Williams (65). They shared a record third wicket stand of 161 off 133 balls to set Zimbabwe on course for this famous win in their rather chequered history.

Although both batsmen were dismissed 11 balls of each other by the golden arm of Asela Gunaratne, Zimbabwe who bat deep till number 10 didn’t lose any more wickets as Sikhander Raza (67 n.o.) and Malcolm Waller (40 n.o.) carried them to a win with an unbroken partnership of 102 off 80 balls.

Overall it was Zimbabwe’s eighth win against Sri Lanka in 51 ODIs.

Sri Lanka had only themselves to blame for the defeat as they spilled as many three catches – a malady which they are finding pretty hard to get rid of.

Mire and Williams were both missed and how costly it proved as Sri Lanka was to realize when the partnership between the two grew into ominous proportions. Centurion Mire was dropped twice at 17 by wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella off Amila Aponso and at 94 by Lasith Malinga at deep fine leg off Gunaratne. Williams was put down on 13 by Danushka Gunathilaka at point off Lahiru Madushanka. Had those chances been accepted Sri Lanka would have romped home quite comfortably but it was not to be their day. The lapses on the field hurt Sri Lanka deeply as Zimbabwe made capital out of them.

It was not only their fielding that let Sri Lanka down but also their bowling which was rather sub standard the way they bowled for an international side.

The chances of a defeat wouldn’t have entered their minds when Sri Lanka ended their innings at 316-5 after electing to bat first.

Two youngsters Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis laid the platform for that total with a 117-run stand. Both looked good to get hundreds but they perished playing some injudicious shots. Gunathilaka was out playing the reverse sweep and Mendis got a leading edge attempting to work the ball towards leg. Mendis made 86 off 80 balls and Gunathilaka 60 off 77. Mendis in the process became the second fastest Sri Lankan to reach 1000 runs in ODIs (28 innings) after Roy Dias (27 innings).

Upul Tharanga returning to the side after serving a two-match suspension for slow over rate held the innings for the rest of the overs to remain 79 not out forging two useful half-century partnerships with Angelo Mathews (49) and Gunaratne (28).

However all that effort was lost when Sri Lanka took the field for the Zimbabwe innings.

Mire was named Man of the Match.

The second ODI will be played at the same venue on Sunday.

Thanks largely to Mendis’ monumental innings supported by half-centuries from Niroshan Dickwella and Dilruwan Perera, Sri Lanka reached a total of 494, although they would have been far happier if they had crossed the 500-run mark.

Niroshan Dickwella pulls a delivery to the leg boundary during his innings of 75.

Ironically it was the two half-centurions who were responsible for giving the Bangladesh openers early lives that enabled them to finish the day at 133 for two wickets – still 361 runs behind.

Perera put down a simple catch at gully offered by Soumya Sarkar at four and Dickwella missed Tamim Iqbal behind the wicket at 28. Those two lapses enabled the openers to put up a century partnership before Tamim threw away his wicket attempting an impossible single and getting run out for 57.

Sri Lanka soon followed with the wicket of Mominul Haque for seven when Perera compensated for his early lapse with a wicket by trapping him plumb in front.

Sarkar however lived to fight another day finishing on 66 not out with his skipper Mushfiqur Rahim on one.

The pitch had slowed down from what it was on the first day and the key to today will be the left-arm chinaman deliveries of Lakshan Sandakan who really made the Bangladesh batsmen jump around in the final session’s play.

Mendis’s extravagance cost him a maiden Test double century when he attempted to reach it with a six and eventually holed out to long-on. The catch was held on the boundary line by Tamim Iqbal giving Mehedi Hasan his second wicket of the innings.

The 19-year-old off-spinning sensation who bowled Bangladesh to their maiden Test win over England at Dhaka last October finished as the best Bangladesh bowler with four wickets for 113.

Dickwella batted aggressively for his second Test fifty scoring 75 off 76 balls with six fours and a six and Perera followed with his third Test half century (51) off 77 balls with seven fours and a six.

Dickwella helped Mendis add 110 for the fifth wicket before the latter’s dismissal for 194 scored off 225 balls with 19 fours and four sixes.

Mendis is the sixth Sri Lankan batsman to be dismissed in the 190s after Sidath Wettimuny, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan.

To add to their woes vice-captain, top batter and wicket-keeper Dinesh Chandimal won’t be making the tour to Zimbabwe as he has still not fully recovered from a thumb injury which he sustained playing in a Mercantile ‘A’ division match last month. The injury required surgery.

Chandimal’s place is filled by the Sri Lanka Army SC’s uncapped 30-year-old right-hand batting all-rounder Asela Gunaratne who has been amongst the runs in the ongoing unofficial test series against West Indies A.

Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya stated that he was hopeful that Chandimal would recover in time for the one-day tri-series against Zimbabwe and West Indies that starts at Harare on November 14.

The two Tests against Zimbabwe are scheduled to be played at Harare from October 29-November 2 and November 6-10.

The delay in releasing the squad which was picked over a week ago was due to the fitness concerns surrounding key players especially the fast bowlers..

Eventually the Lankan selectors were left with only Suranga Lakmal as the fast bowler who was fit for selection amongst the experienced lot.

How weak the Lankan pace bowling line-up is can be gauged by the fact that Lakmal although being the most experienced of the five fast bowlers picked for the tour has never produced a five-wicket innings haul in Tests in the six years he has played for his country. In 29 Tests he has 60 wickets at an average which is usually associated with a batsman – 49.40. The selectors have no option but to pick him as the spearhead of the fast bowling attack.

“We have picked the best possible line-up of fast bowlers available to us,” said chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya.

“Kasun Madushanka has been bowling well in the ongoing series against West Indies A and Lahiru Gamage is the most experienced Sri Lanka A bowler we have. We picked Lahiru Kumara (Sri Lanka under 19 bowler) because he is good potential for the future,” he said.

All three fast bowlers are uncapped along with Gunaratne. Adding to the woes of the long list of fast bowling injuries are two young fast bowlers Asitha Fernando (hamstring) and Vishwa Fernando (back injury).

Sri Lanka are already beset by injuries to key fast bowlers Dhammika Prasad (shoulder), Nuwan Pradeep (hamstring), Dushmantha Chameera (back stress fracture) and one-day specialist Lasith Malinga (knee). They have also lost the services of Shaminda Eranga reported for a suspect bowling action.

In the absence of Chandimal, Jayasuriya said that Niroshan Dickwella who has been picked in the squad would most probably be taking over the wicket-keeping gloves although there is also Kusal Perera who has kept wickets for Sri Lanka in Tests.

Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva are the two established openers, but Perera can also play the dual-purpose role of opener or late order batsman. The Lankan batting seems settled with the exception of Chandimal whose absence will put extra pressure on the rest of the batters to perform.

The spin department is once again headed by the experienced and most capped current Sri Lanka Test player left-armer Rangana Herath who will be supported by off-spinner Dilruwan Perera and left-arm chinaman Lakshan Sandakan.

“I have taken this decision after consultation with my family members. I think this is the right time for me to retire and I have no other ambitions of prolonging my career any further,”

Dilshan will make his final One-Day International appearance for his country in the third ODI against Australia at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium on Sunday August 28 and his final T20 International appearance also against Australia at the R Premadasa Stadium on September 9.

“I want to catch up on the lost time with my wife and three kids and want to give them the best of fatherhood which they may have missed by my being away from home with the Sri Lanka team,” Dilshan said.

The 39-year-old right-handed opener retired from Test cricket in March 2013 and concentrated on playing One-Day Internationals and T20 Internationals. He said at the time that he would call it quits when he no longer enjoys the game.

It seems the time has arrived for him to take a final decision on his career. Dilshan’s current form would also have been a factor towards his final decision. He scored 22 and 10 in the first two ODIs played at the R Premadasa Stadium coming out of a knee injury which he sustained during practice. He also missed Sri Lanka’s last ODI and T20I series in England citing “personal reasons”.

Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya said that he and his committee were unaware of Dilshan’s decision to retire as they had already picked him to play in the third and fourth ODIs in Dambulla.

“We picked the side during the second ODI and we learnt of Dilshan’s decision only yesterday,” said Jayasuriya.

He denied that there was any pressure brought on Dilshan to retire. “The decision he took was purely his own, we were keen to play him.”

Paying a tribute to a former team mate Jayasuriya said, “Dilshan was truly a great all-rounder for Sri Lanka. He could bat, bowl, field and even keep wickets very rarely do you find a cricketer who is so versatile in every department. What is so great about him is his commitment to perform well even at this late age. Sri Lanka cricket will certainly miss him.”

Will Dilshan be lost to cricket forever?

“I have no plans to play any further cricket or be involved with cricket. It’s a decision that I have taken,” said Dilshan.

“Although I am not considering taking up any positions connected to cricket or play cricket of any format my name I am sure will remain in the game as the inventor of the ‘Dilscoop’,” he said.

The ‘Dilscoop’ became famous during the ICC World T20 in England in 2009 when Dilshan used it frequently to become the leading run-getter in the tournament with 317 runs (avg. 52.83) and a top score of 96 not out – a performance that took his team to the final against Pakistan at Lord’s and gave him the Man of the Series award.

According to Dilshan he started practicing this stroke against a bowling machine during his tenure with Delhi Daredevils in the 2009 Indian Premier League (IPL) held in South Africa. It was used so successfully by Dilshan during the World T20 that former Australian captain Ian Chappell who commentating during the tournament aid that he had never seen any batsman play the ball straight over the wicket-keeper’s head as Dilshan does.

Dilshan appeared for Sri Lanka in 97 Tests 11 of which he captained and in 329 ODIs (26 as captain). He also captained in five of 78 T20 Internationals he has played to-date.

Making his ODI debut in December 1999 in Zimbabwe, Dilshan turned out to be one of the most successful cricketers in the shorter format scoring over 10,000 runs and capturing over 100 wickets. He is also one of the few batsmen to score over 1000 runs in T20Is and also a century. He made 1000 ODI runs in a calendar year on four occasions, the last one being in 2015 when he amassed 1207 at an average of 52.47.

Despite his age Dilshan remains one of the best fielders in world cricket especially at his pet position at cover point where he has brought off numerous catches and saved several runs for his team. His best performance on the field was during the VB final against Australia at Adelaide in 2006 when he ran out four batsmen with some slick fielding that enabled Sri Lanka defend a target of 275 and win by 22 runs.

Sri Lanka Cricket in a media release stated that they would dedicate the third ODI between Sri Lanka and Australia to be played at Dambulla Stadium on Sunday to honour Dilshan for his invaluable contribution to the game and country.

“I together with my committee wish to extend our sincere appreciation and wish him the very best in his future endeavors,” said Sri Lanka Cricket president Thilanga Sumathipala.

The second game of the five-match series is at the same venue today and Sri Lanka expect the curator to come up with a pitch that is not extremely dry but dry enough for their spinners to come into play.

What Sunday’s game revealed was that no matter what the surface was Australia had a battery of fast bowlers headed by Mitchell Starc to exploit any condition.

Australian skipper Steve Smith and spinner Nathan Lyon during practice at the R Premadasa Stadium nets.
The tour of Sri Lanka has been a memorable one for Starc who reached a century of wickets in Tests as well as ODIs becoming the quickest in the history of the game in the latter format.

The addition of one-day specialist James Faulkner (man of the match in the 2015 World Cup final against New Zealand) in the Australian line-up has given their bowling more teeth. Starc and Faulkner combined to take seven wickets for 70 runs in 20 overs to strangle the Lankan batting and restrict them to a total of 227 that was within reach of Australia despite the threat of spin.

Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathew admitted the difference Starc and Faulkner made to the match.

“Starc bowled really well in the Tests and now in the ODIs. We have a clear plan for him – to refrain from attacking him, so that we don’t give him wickets,” said Mathews at the pre-match press conference yesterday.

“If we can score 40 or 50 runs off him, we feel that we can catch up against the other bowlers. Because he’s bowling well, we should give him that respect. But at the same time we also have to put his loose balls away,” he said.

“With James Faulkner, his variations were excellent on that pitch, because of how dry it was. We struggled with those variations, so we’ll come with a plan tomorrow.”

Sri Lanka who were quite successful with their spinners in the three Tests went into the first ODI hoping to repeat it in the fifty-over format as well, but Australia’s fast bowler’s did an excellent job to keep them down to a total that in the end proved insufficient for their bowlers to defend.

Boosted by their win in the first ODI, Australia will be looking to extend their 1-0 lead in the series by winning today’s match as well.

From Sri Lanka’s viewpoint they will need to come up with a bigger total than they did on Sunday.

Mathews said that they don’t want to meddle with the batting line-up after just one game which means the batters will remain the same.

“No idea of changing the batting order we might perhaps make one change if required to the team. For most of the time we plan to go with the same team according to the pitch,” said Mathews.

“We’ve included Angelo Perera for injured fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep (hamstring injury) and he along with Seekkuge Prasanna are in the fray to be selected for tomorrow’s game.”

Commenting on Angelo Perera’s selection coach Graham Ford said, “The selectors felt that he played really well in England. He’s a very capable player. I remember him from the first time I was involved with the team. He has a chance of playing. He had a good net today so there’s a chance that he could be considered, yes.”

Sri Lanka Under 19 cricketers beat their English counterparts to win the two-Test Youth series 1-0 and followed it up by whitewashing them in the three-match Youth ODI series 3-0.

“I am very happy to say that a few players in the Under-19 squad are knocking the doors on the national side,” said Jayasuriya, who has been keeping a close eye on the development of junior cricket even during his previous tenure as the national selector.

Jayasuriya said under SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala’s management, SLC has put a great effort in developing junior cricket with the junior selectors headed by Ranjith Madurasinghe, who has done an excellent job.

The Sri Lanka Under-19 team, led by Charith Asalanka, was warmly welcomed at the SLC headquarters following their historic tour of England.

“It’s a historic moment for SLC as the side won the both Test and One Day series. We had never won both series in England at junior level,” SLC CEO Ashley de Silva said. Team manager Mahinda Halangoda said that it was a tough series, but added, “We had fantastic weather conditions in England and there were at least five batsmen ready to go to the next level which includes Avishka Fernando, who hit two back to back hundreds in the ODIs and skipper Charith Asalanka.”

“Our fielding was exceptional and it came for high praise from England umpire Nick Cook,” said Halangoda. “He said we are a brilliant fielding unit, better than either Sri Lanka A or the current national team.” Cook, is a former England cricketer turned first-class umpire.

“I have no words to say, I am really happy that our players have done a great job,” said SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala under whose leadership Sri Lanka cricket has reaped tremendous success during the year.

“We are proud as a country as this happened while the national side whitewashed the No. 1 Test team, Australia,” the SLC president said. “Under the guidance of Nelson Mendis, Mahinda Halalgoda and coach Roy Dias, our players have maintained good discipline in the UK, it’s an admirable moment,” said Sumathipala. SLC presented one million rupees to the victorious Under 19 cricketers. The cheque was officially handed over to the Sri Lanka under 19 captain Charith Asalanka by president Sumathipala.

Mathews knows this Test is crucial for Sri Lanka to stay alive in the three-match series and he said he expected a better performance from his team than the one they put up at Leeds five days ago.

On that occasion Sri Lanka were bundled out for scores of 91 and 119 to lose inside three days by an innings and 88 runs. The win has given a 1-0 lead in the series and they will be looking to wrap it up at Durham where the conditions will once again be favourable to their swing and seam attack led by James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

“We had only a few days to turnaround and think about the game and our strategies,” said Mathews at the pre-Test press conference yesterday. “The defeat at Leeds was quite embarrassing we just have to flush it out of the system. The more we think about it the more disappointed we get. Tomorrow’s going to be a fresh start. To stay alive in the series we’ll have to win regardless of the conditions and the weather. We have to go out there and play at our best. “We need to forget Headingley simple as that. That’s the first thing we got to do. You can’t erase it but you can move on and work really hard, have a positive mind set and walk into the game. It’s a mental adjustment we got to do and hopefully the boys will come out right.

“If we play to our potential it is possible to win the Test, not think about the weather too much. We certainly have the skill and the talent it’s just that we need to go and fight it out for the rest of the five days,” he said.

On the daunting prospect of having to come up against two of the best bowlers in English conditions Anderson and Broad, Mathews said, “In these conditions they are really good bowlers wherever they played they have been really good for the past so many years. They are world class bowlers and you’ve got to be skillful especially in these conditions.

“We have more clarity on our top order batting and we also found the right balance it’s just that when you play more games you tend to learn more. Batting is an art in Test cricket, it is a test of skill, temperament and you have to get used to different conditions. Weather can’t be an excuse because we are all international players. It’s just that we played enough cricket to understand what roles we have to play in the team in the batting line-up. Hopefully they will come up with the challenge.

One of the positives to come out of the tour is the batting of 21-year-old Kusal Mendis and Mathews said the other team members could emulate him.

“This is the first tour for him on the big stage – first Test match in England, he showed a lot of character when the ball is swinging and seaming around,” said Mathews. “That itself showed a lot of character about the player. The rest of the batters can also take a lot of positives out of it and take up the challenge.”

Sri Lanka have not finalized their team for the Test and Mathews said that it will be done later during the day after he sees the pitch and meets up with chairman of Sanath Jayasuriya who was expected to arrive here yesterday.

The likelihood is that Suranga Lakmal is the likely prospect of replacing the injured Dushmantha Chameera who has returned home with a back injury.

England are making one change to their squad with Chris Woakes coming in for injured Ben Stokes.

“We have not seen the best of Chris in England. He is in fine form for Warwickshire taking nine wickets,” said England captain Alastair Cook.

“We need that competition in that all-rounder place. Ben is a big loss for us but injuries are part and parcel of cricket and we need to learn how to play without him.”

Cook also said that England’s top order needs to fire after being reduced to 83-5 at Leeds before they recovered to total 298.

“To get to nearly 300 runs you had to bat well in those extraordinary conditions. Tough innings Alex (Hales) had to really ground out and we were 80-5. The game was in the balance. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of our batting it’s an area we can unlock a bit more. We’re aware about it. As a side we’ve spoken about it. Hopefully the next five days we can pay off,” said Cook.

Both teams were confined to practice indoors due to the bad weather which hopefully is expected to improve over the next three days.