The captain took three wickets and added 44 runs in a historic victory which gave Sri Lanka their first series win against England
Sri Lanka made history in Derby on Wednesday evening, winning the final T20 by seven wickets with three overs to spare, to go 2-1 up and secure their first ever series win against England.
It is England’s first T20 series loss at home to any team other than Australia since 2010, and a remarkable one: Sri Lanka are ranked eighth in the world, well behind second-placed England, and until recently were essentially an amateur side, with no professional national structures in place.
Athapaththu then spent the Sri Lanka powerplay continuing her one-woman mission to destroy the England bowling lineup, flicking two sixes casually over backward square leg en route to 44 off 28 balls. She eventually holed out to long-on in the seventh over, but while the Sri Lanka run-rate slowed up considerably and Sarah Glenn made two further indentations, Harshitha Samarawickrama helped her side safely over the line, comfortably sealing the deal with a boundary.Photograph: Nathan Stirk/ECB/Getty Images
England had found themselves wading through a quagmire from the very first ball, after Danni Wyatt sent up the tamest of catches to cover, bagging herself a golden duck. Alice Capsey soon departed with metaphorical steam coming out of her ears, when Maia Bouchier changed her mind about a second run with her partner two-thirds of the way down the pitch.
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