New Zealand women's team's spectacular win, defeated Sri Lanka by 78 runs

 New Zealand women's team's spectacular win, defeated Sri Lanka by 78 runs

New Zealand won the second match of the three-match ODI series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka women's cricket teams by 78 runs. With this win, New Zealand has taken a 1-0 lead in the series, as the first match was canceled due to rain. Now the third and decisive match will be played in Nelson on 9 March 2025.

Strong batting of New Zealand

In this match held in Nelson, the New Zealand captain won the toss and decided to bat first. New Zealand openers Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine gave the team a great start and added 67 runs for the first wicket. Bates scored 45 runs, while Devine scored 38 runs.

Amelia Kerr and Maddie Green made significant contributions in the middle order. Kerr played a brilliant innings of 55 runs, while Green scored 42 runs. In the end, New Zealand scored 245 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the stipulated 50 overs.

Among the Sri Lankan bowlers, Chamari Atapattu was the most successful, taking 3 wickets, while Inoka Ranaweera got 2 wickets.

Sri Lanka's weak batting

Chasing the target of 246 runs, the Sri Lankan team came under pressure from the very beginning. The openers returned to the pavilion early, which put the team in trouble.

Captain Chamari Atapattu played a fighting innings of 41 runs, but no big partnership could be formed from the other end. Hasini Perera scored 32 runs, but the rest of the batsmen could not stay on the crease for long.

New Zealand bowlers bowled accurately and did not give the Sri Lankan batsmen a chance to play freely. Lee Tahuhu bowled brilliantly and took 4 wickets, while Amelia Kerr took 3 wickets. As a result, the Sri Lankan team was all out for 167 runs in 46.4 overs and New Zealand won the match by 78 runs.

Further strategy

The third and final ODI of the series will be played on March 9. If New Zealand wins it, it will win the series 2-0. On the other hand, Sri Lanka will try to level the series by winning this match.

After this, both the teams will face each other in the three-match T20 series starting from March 14. Through this T20 series, both the teams will try to strengthen their preparations for the upcoming tournaments.

Conclusion

This victory of New Zealand has shown their excellent team combination and strong performance. On the other hand, Sri Lanka needs to improve their batting so that they can make a strong comeback in the next matches. A tough competition is expected from both the teams in the third ODI and the upcoming T20 matches.