Sri Lanka completed an unbeaten run through their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup warm-ups in England, beating the Netherlands by seven wickets in the second tune-up after an 81-run unbeaten partnership between Hansima Karunaratne and Harshitha Samarawickrama.
Asked to bat first, the Netherlands — ranked 14th in the ICC T20I table — stitched together three consecutive partnerships over 40 with Heather Siegers anchoring the innings. Siegers fell for 48 off 32 balls with the Dutch on 89 for two, and Sterre Kalis followed with 45 from 41 deliveries. Sri Lanka then ran through the lower order, taking the final four wickets for 11 runs to restrict the Netherlands to 143 for six.
In the chase, the Sri Lankans slipped to 30 for two inside the powerplay and lost Hasini Perera for 31 from 20 to leave the innings under early pressure. Samarawickrama, standing in as captain in place of the absent Chamari Athapaththu, and Karunaratne then combined for the match-winning stand, taking Sri Lanka home in the final over. Karunaratne finished unbeaten on 54 and Samarawickrama on 36 not out.
The result keeps Sri Lanka — the sixth-ranked T20I side and one of the tournament’s record prize-money beneficiaries — on track ahead of their tournament opener. Sri Lanka begin their campaign against hosts England on June 12, while the Netherlands will play their first-ever World Cup game against Bangladesh at Edgbaston on June 14.
The squad — announced on May 29 and rebuilt around Athapaththu — was reshaped this week after all-rounder Sashini Gimhani was ruled out with a lower back injury and Chethana Vimukthi added as her replacement.
