England continued their victory run in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025, with an 89-run win over Sri Lanka on Saturday, October 11 at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. Captain Nat Sciver-Brunt led her team from the front with a record-breaking century, scoring a marvelous 117 (117) studded with 17 fours and two sixes.
Later in the second innings, Sophie Ecclestone (4/17) stamped her authority with the ball, scalping four wickets to trigger a dramatic collapse in the Sri Lankan batting order. Set a target of 254 to register their first win of the tournament, Sri Lanka suffered a major blow early on as captain Chamari Athapaththu was stretchered off the field in the sixth over after suffering from a calf issue.
She was replaced by Vishmi Gunaratne (10 off 9) in the middle, whose stay at the crease didn’t let long as Charlie Dean dismantled her stumps in the tenth over. After early blows, Hasini Perera (35 off 60) and Harshitha Samarawickrama (33 off 37) stabilised things with a 58-run partnership off 66 balls to stay in the hunt of the chase.
Women’s World Cup: England vs Sri Lanka Highligts
Sri Lanka were 95/2 in 20 overs and were looking to press on the accelerator to put England under pressure when Sophie Ecclestone to came to their rescue. The left-arm spinner made Perera hit one straight to Alice Capsey at mid-on to give her side an opening back into the game. Ecclestone lived up to her reputation of being number one ODI bowler as she further accounted for the well-set Samarawickrama, who miscued a pull shot and holed out to short fine leg.
There was no stopping Ecclestone as Kavisha Dilhari also lost her stumps against the left-arm spinner, who picked up three wickets in as many overs. In no time, Sri Lanka were reduced to 103/4 as captain Athapaththu came back to continue her innings on 7 (20).
However, even she had no answer to Eccelstone’s mystery, as she cleaned her up with a dream left-arm spinner’s dismissal and bowled her through the gate. As Athapaththu walked back into the pavilion, she took with her all hopes of the Sri Lankan fans as their team eventually capitulated for 164.
Earlier in the day, Nat Sciver Brunt brought up her tenth ODI century to help England post 253 runs on the board, after they lost both their openers inside the first ten overs. While Amy Jones (11 off 13) got dismissed due to an unfortunate run out, Tammy Beaumont (32 off 29) failed to convert her start, falling prey to Sugandika Kumari.
With England on 49/2 after 9.3 overs, Nat Sciver-Brunt joined last game’s Player of the Match, Heather Knight in the middle and the duo stitched a 60-run stand off 73 balls to take their team’s score past 100. After losing Knight (29 off 47) in the 22nd over, England suffered a collapse as no batter could bide their time in the middle.
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