Sri Lanka women’s cricket is showing signs of a turnaround in the current series against New Zealand according to batting coach Malinda Warnapura who has been impressed with some new hands in the team.
“We had to depend on Chamari Atapattu in the past but today it’s gradually changing and youngsters like Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne and Kaveesha Dilhari are come up with runs,” said Warnapura after the second ODI at the Galle stadium on Friday.
Sri Lanka beat New Zealand in the first ODI by nine wickets in a match reduced to 29 overs but lost the second game by 111 runs after conceding 329 runs with one match left to decide the series.
“We are working on how the rest of the batters could step in”, said Warnapura who has had stints as batting coach of the Sri Lanka A team, Emerging team and Development team.
“Winning the first ODI against New Zealand gave us some good positives but the second game that we lost by 111 runs meant we had something more to learn and do.
“They (New Zealand) have three or four good batters with a lot of experience and this is something we have to take note of and build up our own batters.
”We have to meet these challenges in the third and final ODI (on Monday). We have to build partnerships and we have batters who are capable as they have the confidence going forward. They know the areas they need to work on. Being consistent is very important for success”, Warnapura added.