Superstar Athapaththu leads Sri Lanka to historic series win

Chamari Athapaththu has slammed her second century in three matches to lead Sri Lanka to a history making one-day series victory over New Zealand.

Athapaththu hammered an unbeaten 140 off 80 balls to help Sri Lanka claim an eight-wicket victory in Galle via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, sealing a 2-1 series win in the process.

It was Sri Lanka's first bilateral series win over the White Ferns, and their first victory in a bilateral series of more than one match against any opponent in almost 15 years, since a 3-2 triumph against West Indies in 2008.

Earlier this year they defeated Bangladesh 1-0 after the first two games of the series were washed out.

Chasing a revised target of 196 in 29 overs on Monday, the hosts were in early trouble at 2-6.

But Athapaththu swung the momentum firmly back in their favour as she brought up a hundred – her eighth in ODIs – in just 60 balls, making it the fourth fastest in the history of women's one-day internationals.

She struck nine sixes during her whirlwind innings as Sri Lanka reached their target with 13 balls to spare, with the Sri Lanka captain then swamped by her delighted teammates who raced onto the ground to celebrate.

New Zealand had earlier scored 2-127 in 31 overs before rain interrupted the match.

Athapaththu had already been the hero in the series opener on June 27, scoring 108 not out to guide Sri Lanka to a nine-wicket victory in a match reduced to 28 overs a side – their first victory over the White Ferns in any format.

New Zealand hit back in the second game as both Amelia Kerr (108) and Sophie Devine (137) hit centuries to take their side to 7-329, before Sri Lanka were bowled out for 213 in reply with Athapaththu dismissed for a first-ball duck.

Athapaththu remarkably now boasts the 10 highest individual scores by a Sri Lankan woman in ODIs.

The series win saw Sri Lanka collect four important points in the ICC Women's ODI Championship.

The 10-team round-robin competition sees teams meet in three-game bilateral ODI series across a three-year period and determines which countries automatically qualify for the 2025 World Cup in India.

Australia's three 50-over matches as part of the multi-format Ashes against England will be for six ODI Championship points, as will their three-game tour of Ireland following that series.

Sri Lanka missed out on a spot at the 2022 World Cup in New Zealand after the qualifying event in Zimbabwe was abandoned due to a Covid outbreak.

The cancellation meant higher-ranked Pakistan and Bangladesh secured the two available spots in the eight-team tournament.