END OF OVER:20 | 8 Runs 2 Wkts | NZ-W: 162/3 | RR: 8.10
- Sophie Devine3 (3b)
- Maddy Green0 (0b)
- Inoka Ranaweera4-0-27-1
- Chamari Athapaththu3.5-0-33-0
7.29 pm Sri Lanka did not field like a team that wants to be in the semis. The majority of the chances created were not capitalized on. They were porous nearly from start to finish. If they fielded reasonably well, they may have held New Zealand to 130 or less, but now face a daunting target if they want to record their first ever T20I win over New Zealand to clinch a spot in the semis.
Amelia Kerr speaks after her fifty: "It's nice to get some runs and build a great partnership with Suzie. The ball was keeping low so it was nice to post the total we did and hopefully we can go out and defend it. We had [NRR] on the back of our minds but we focused on building a partnership. Maybe we could have gone a few overs earlier. We learned a lot from the first few games here and focused a lot more on playing straight. There were a lot of bowled and lbws in our first few games and there were plenty of runs playing straight before we earned the chance to play cross-batted shots."
According to our stats man Rajesh, if New Zealand restricts Sri Lanka to 123 or less, they'll pass them on NRR. If Sri Lanka scores 124 or more in spite of a loss, they'll stay above New Zealand on NRR. Either way, neither is going to be able to pass South Africa on NRR. So if New Zealand maintains their undefeated record v Sri Lanka here, then South Africa only needs a win on Tuesday vs Bangladesh to back into the semis. For Sri Lanka, the overarching equation is simple though. Win here and they're in the semis. However, we'll repeat again that they've never beaten New Zealand in a T20I and the odds of chasing this target don't look too promising. Stay with us for the reply shortly.
AC Kerr run out 66 (64m 48b 6x4 0x6) SR: 137.50
Bates was dropped on 37.
SW Bates st †Sanjeewani b Ranaweera 56 (84m 49b 6x4 0x6) SR: 114.28
END OF OVER:19 | 12 Runs | NZ-W: 154/1 | RR: 8.10
- Amelia Kerr66 (48b)
- Suzie Bates54 (46b)
- Chamari Athapaththu3.5-0-33-0
- Sugandika Kumari4-0-29-0
END OF OVER:18 | 10 Runs | NZ-W: 142/1 | RR: 7.88
- Amelia Kerr55 (43b)
- Suzie Bates53 (45b)
- Sugandika Kumari4-0-29-0
- Chamari Athapaththu2.5-0-21-0
Kumari withdraws from delivering after Bates shuffles way outside off before delivery.
END OF OVER:17 | 9 Runs | NZ-W: 132/1 | RR: 7.76
- Amelia Kerr51 (40b)
- Suzie Bates47 (42b)
- Chamari Athapaththu2.5-0-21-0
- Sugandika Kumari3-0-19-0