Sciver-Brunt ton, Eccleston four-for help England brush aside Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka put in a spirited display, but couldn't stop England from going top of the table
Sri Lanka put in a spirited display, but couldn't stop England from going top of the table
Scorer: M Venkat Raghav | Commentator: Alan Gardner
10.15pm: A comfortable margin in the end for England, although they were made to work for it. Sri Lanka were pretty well placed at 95 for 1 in their chase - albeit with Chamari Athapaththu also off the field with cramp - but were throttled by Sophie Ecclestone's immaculate spell of 4 for 17 through the middle overs. In the end, a total of 253, underpinned by Nat Sciver-Brunt's hundred, was too tall an ask for the joint-hosts, whose wait for a win in this World Cup goes on
England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt is named Player of the Match: [Plan?] "Build a partnership with Heather [Knight], so the batters at the end can accelerate. Didn't quite happen, but we talk about having a set batter in. Pitch was a bit stoppy, inconsistent. Happy I was able to do that today. Their spinners bowled well, so we had to be precise with our shots. Scoring down the ground was my best bet. [Baby celebration] I had thought about that before, scoring a century was very special."
Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu: "We bowled really good, but the last three overs we struggled and they scored 30-40 runs. The other thing is we dropped one catch, Nat Sciver, and catches win matches. [Improvement from India game] We improved a bit but we need to execute again in our next game. Feel my place is opening. We changed the batting order today as well. The next game is important and we have to talk about things in the meeting room. We had eight days off, but no excuses. As professionals we have to play our game. [Cramp] Feeling okay, was struggling in the first overs, but feel okay. Have two days' rest now."
Sciver-Brunt is back for more: "Think we started off really well, Amy and Tammy showed good intent. At the start it looked easy to score. There was a bit of inconsistency with the spinners, how it reacted off the wicket. For me, batting through, that allowed others to come in and play in different ways. Felt like I couldn't accelerate properly until the end when it came on more. Picking length is important, recognising what your strengths are. Not letting spinners settle, using lap sweeps, it's good to have that in your armoury. [Ecclestone] She's brilliant. To be able to hand her the ball and bowl ten straight through, not go for many and pick up four wickets. It's pretty special. She's grown in the last few months as well, we challenged her to do more. [Third win, perfect game yet?] Liked to have bigger partnerships with bat. In patches we've done really well."
And that's a wrap for this one, folks. Madushka's report is coming down the chute, and there'll be more to come from Fidel and the team. Stick around for that, and then make a date in your diary for tomorrow's titanic clash between India and Australia in Visakhapatnam. Ciao!
KDU Prabodhani c Nat Sciver-Brunt b Smith 0 (18m 18b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0
"Where is Jofra Archer when you need to blast out the last wicket ??" I dunno, Chris, but I'd probably have turned to Bell by now...
Sophie Ecclestone was almost unplayable on Saturday night at the Khettarama, suffocating the Sri Lanka batters and squeezing the life out of them
Nat Sciver-Brunt scores her first England century since becoming a mother and celebrates it, with partner Katherine and son Theo in the stands, with a baby-rocking gesture
Sri Lanka put in a spirited display, but couldn't stop England from going top of the table
The Sri Lanka captain returned to bat in the 23rd over after they lost their third wicket
Conditions could give Sri Lanka a leg up as they look to pull off an upset over unbeaten visitors