England women record dominant seven wicket victory over Sri Lanka women to lead 1-0 in the Metro Bank ODI series as Mahika Gaur, Lauren Filer and Sarah Glenn claimed three wickets apiece at Seat Unique Riverside.
Gaur’s opening spell saw off both openers before the introduction of Glenn and Filer saw England tear through the Sri Lanka middle order, despite the best efforts of Harshitha Samarawickrama who looked to hold their innings together.
Sri Lanka were bowled out within 31 overs and England had little trouble of making it to their target of 107, wrapping up victory in the 18th over.
England captain Heather Knight hoped to make use of early conditions, choosing to bowl first. England women’s ODI debutant Gaur got the ball swinging both ways to have both openers bowled in consecutive overs, with Kate Cross bowling tightly in tandem.
The 17-year-old claimed a dream maiden wicket of Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu’s as she removed off stump with a beauty swinging away before delivering an in-swinger to bowl Anushka Sanjeewani through the gate.
Sarah Glenn made almost immediate impact, having Vishmi Gunaratne trapped on the back foot in the eleventh with the visiting side on just 40.
Filer made a fast start too, seeing an LBW review turned down for height, immediately before claiming her first ODI wicket; Hasini Perera feathering a leg-side delivery through to Amy Jones.
In her fourth over, Filer took wickets of Kavisha Dilhari and Nilakshi de Silva in consecutive balls, almost identically as both batters looked to guide short-pitched deliveries to third man, instead finding Jones’s gloves.
Samarawickrama- who scored 35, looked key to Sri Lanka’s hopes of raising a total. She became the seventh wicket to fall when Alice Capsey’s leg-side delivery secured her wicket as she looked to work it down to fine leg.
Glenn accelerated proceedings when she tempted Oshadi Ranasinghe into a cut shot which the Sri Lankan thinly edged through to Jones. Glenn then Achini Kulasuriya bowled to claim wickets in back-to-back overs.
Gaur returned to bring an early end to Sri Lanka’s innings as she clipped the bails to bowl Udeshika Prabodhani in the second over of her spell, Sri Lanka all out for 106.
Much like Sri Lanka, England began patiently before making haste; Emma Lamb brought the innings to life with consecutive boundaries in the sixth over before Tammy Beaumont scored eight from the next.
The pair continued to attack as they made fifteen from the ninth, locating gaps in the tight off side field and seizing on wide deliveries to find the boundary. Inoka Ranaweera struck first ball, having Beaumont caught at slip for 30.
Ranasinghe brought about Sri Lanka’s second as Lamb looked to go over the top but lofted into Perera’s hands. Heather Knight utilised her experience to help her side towards the finish line, only to be caught behind when England were within eight of their target.
Debutant Maia Bouchier drove through the covers for her third boundary, securing England’s victory.