Persistent rain in Colombo forced the 15th match of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 between Sri Lanka and New Zealand are given up without results. This was the second failure of the tournament, both at R. Premadasa Stadium, leaving both teams sharing points. Sri Lanka are at seventh position while New Zealand are at five with both teams still in contention.
Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka Women produced their best batting performance of the tournament to date, with 258/6 in 50 overs, their second highest total in World Cup history. Openers Chamari Athapaththu (53 off 72) and Vishmi Gunaratne (42 off 83) provided a solid opening score of 101 points. Hasini Perera (44) and Harshitha Samarawickrama (26) then took over the middle overs before Nilakshi de Silva played a quick knock of 55 off just 28 balls, the fastest fifty of the tournament and the fastest by a Sri Lankan woman in ODIs, surpassing her own record.
De Silva’s late cameo took Sri Lanka to 80 runs in the last 10 overs. New Zealand’s fielding errors, including missed catches, fallen stumps and several misfields, allowed the hosts to capitalize. Captain Sophie Devine (3/54) was the bowlers’ favorite, while Bree Illing and Rosemary Mair bagged one wicket each.
However, rain soon took over after the innings break, halting any chances of a chase. The first rain shower came just as the referees were preparing for inspection. Despite the ground being completely covered and the tireless efforts of the groundsmen, persistent rain in two separate periods made play impossible. Referees and officials ultimately had no choice but to call off the match, with both skippers, Chamari Athapaththu and Sophie Devine, sharing a handshake.
Meanwhile, New Zealand, who are now on three points, face a tough season with games against Pakistan, India and England. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, has matches against South Africa, Bangladesh and Pakistan to climb higher in the rankings.
“We assessed the conditions and played good cricket. Unfortunately we cannot complete the game. Not in our hands. She was struggling as an opener, so she moved to No. 4. I talked to her. And she is back on top (talking about Vishmi). Nilakshi is an experienced player. She has played good cricket in the last 12 months. We missed another 20-25 runs. I had spoken to the bowlers about attacking the stumps. These are the things we talked about before the rain started. The next match is important because we only have three matches. Hopefully we will play the next match without rain,” said Chamari Athapaththu.
“Sri Lanka have batted well. There is a theme you can exploit when you have wickets at the back. They probably got a few more runs that we would have liked. Shame the weather put us off, we were excited for the chase. Stats and numbers can only go so far. Sometimes it’s about feeling. Really about manipulating match-ups. Another experience and opportunity for our bowlers to get going against Sri Lanka. It’s about readjusting and moving on.” I just knocked one over the other day. I owe it to myself. I see where I fit in with the rest of the group. We have so much variety. The idea was to throw stump against stump and contain them. Squeezing out a few ends was essential. We will review half of the game we played and come up with plans,” said Sophie Devine.
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