Chamari Sets the Tone, Dilhari Finishes Both Jobs: Sri Lanka Women Cruise Past Malaysia Into the Semi-Finals

Knockout cricket between a Full Member and an associate is rarely about whether the favourite wins. It is about whether the favourite looks like a side that can win the next two. On Friday morning in Nisshin, Sri Lanka Women answered that question with some authority.

They chose to bat, made 160 for 4 on the back of Chamari Athapaththu's 63 from 37 balls, and held Malaysia Women to 74 for 7. The margin was 86 runs. The more telling number might be the three overs Kavisha Dilhari bowled for four runs, after she had already made 44 not out.

Imesha Dulani was run out in the third over for 2 and Sri Lanka were 6 for 1. What followed was the partnership that decided the match: Athapaththu and Hasini Perera added 80 for the second wicket, the first 50 of it in 35 balls. Athapaththu was on 48 at the drinks break with Sri Lanka 72 for 1, and her fifty came from 28 balls, with six fours and three sixes.

Perera fell for a steady 23 in the twelfth over and Athapaththu for 63 in the fourteenth, and for a moment Malaysia had something to hold on to: Nurin Imanina had removed both of them, and Sri Lanka were 95 for 3 rather than cruising. Imanina would add Samarawickrama late on to finish with 3 for 29. But Dilhari and Harshitha Samarawickrama put on 62 for the fourth wicket in a little over six overs, taking Sri Lanka to 160. Dilhari's 44 not out came from 27 balls without a six — placement, not power.

Malaysia's chase was never going to be about 161. It was about batting twenty overs with dignity, and for a long time they did. After Ainna Hamizah Hashim was run out in the first over and two wickets fell in consecutive balls at the end of the sixth — Wan Julia bowled, Mas Elysa lbw — Malaysia were 25 for 3. Winifred Duraisingam and Mahirah Izzati Ismail then batted together for more than twelve overs, adding 42.

The strike rate was low, but the point was survival, and they managed it until the 19th over. Then four wickets fell for one run in eight balls — 67 for 3 became 68 for 7 — as Sri Lanka's bowlers went looking for the finish. It was a slightly unkind end to an innings that, taken as a whole, showed Malaysia can bat long against a top-ten side.

After a washed-out quarter-final and an eleven-over one at the same ground on Thursday, Friday's match went the full distance. Sri Lanka's 160 suggests a fair surface for strokeplay, but the more revealing figures are at the other end: Sri Lanka used seven bowlers and none of them went at more than 5.4 an over. Pace off the ball and accurate lines were enough to shut the scoring down.

Athapaththu's fifty will be remembered, as they usually are. But Dilhari's double deserves its own paragraph. With the bat she came in at 86 for 2 and made 44 not out from 27, turning a good total into a commanding one. With the ball she bowled three overs, one of them a maiden, and took 2 for 4. In a knockout, that is what an all-rounder is for.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we did not preview the Asian Games quarter-finals. We'll have full analysis for Sri Lanka's semi-final against Pakistan.

Sri Lanka Women meet Pakistan Women in the first semi-final on Sunday, September 20, at the same ground. Pakistan needed the last over to get past Thailand in their rain-reduced quarter-final; Sri Lanka won theirs by 86 runs. On this evidence Sri Lanka go in as the side in better form. The second semi-final is Bangladesh Women against India Women, and the medal matches follow on September 22.