Sophie Devine led from the front, smashing an unbeaten 75 for her sixth straight T20 half-century, to guide New Zealand to a seven-wicket victory over another Sri Lanka in a Group A match of the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.
In Group B, West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor, with an allround display, helped her side to a similar win over debutant Thailand.
In the second match, openers Chamari Athapaththu (41) and Hasini Madushika played unorthodox shots to give Sri Lanka a brisk start with a stand of 60 before Hayley Jensen’s spell of three of 16 slowed down the momentum. Devine hit six fours and two sixes in her 55-ball knock to help the Kiwis get through.
The scores: Group A: Sri Lanka 127/7 in 20 overs (Hasini Perera 20, Chamari Atapattu 41, Hayley 3/16) lost to New Zealand 131/3 in 17.4 overs (Sophie Devine 75 n.o.). Group B: Thailand 78/9 in 20 overs (Nannapat Koncharoenkai 33, Stafanie Taylor 3/13) lost to West Indies 80/3 in 16.4 overs (Stafanie Taylor 26 n.o., Shemaine Campbelle 25 n.o.) .
