New Zealand eye another scalp to make up for lost ground

New Zealand came into the 2025 Women's World Cup with high hopes after clinching the T20 World Cup in similar conditions last year. However, they started their campaign on a poor note, getting beaten comprehensively by Australia and South Africa. While England and Australia have looked quite impressive in the tournament, all is not lost for the T20 champions given hosts India have also lost two games on the trot now.

That semi-final berth is well and truly up for grabs if New Zealand can stitch a few wins on the trot now. They did get off the mark against Bangladesh in their last game and now Sri Lanka and Pakistan are opponents New Zealand should be backing themselves to put away. Sophie Devine has been the star so far in their batting department, amassing 260 runs already in just three games and her form will be key at a venue where teams haven't really put up big totals.

The highest score so far in Colombo in this tournament is 253 - a score that looked pretty impossible at one stage if not for Nat Sciver-Brunt's terrific ton. Sri Lanka will bank exactly on this factor to keep their hopes alive of securing a big win over their fancied opponents. Sri Lanka looked impressive in patches against both India and England so far and their match against Australia got washed out. If they can just put pressure on New Zealand now, the home side can back themselves to fetch their first win given their opponents have already looked shaky in this tournament.

When: Tuesday, October 14, 2025 at 3:00 PM local and IST

Where: R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

What to expect: Another low-scoring game will be on the cards with spin playing a role but there could be some rain around as well during the game.

Head to Head: New Zealand have won 13 out of the 16 matches so far. Sri Lanka have won only two with one game ending in a no-result. In ODI World Cups, New Zealand have won all five contests.

Team News

Sri Lanka

The home team will likely retain the XI that featured against England given the conditions.

Probable XI: Hasini Perera, Chamari Athapaththu (c), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Dewmi Vihanga, Sugandika Kumari, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoka Ranaweera

New Zealand

After finally picking up a win, New Zealand are not expected to make any changes to their playing XI.

Probable XI: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (c), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze (wk), Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu, Eden Carson

Did you know:

- New Zealand lost 16 wickets to spin in three games - the joint-most by a team along with Pakistan.

- Suzie Bates is just 75 runs away from 6000 in ODIs, and will be just the second woman to get there after Mithali Raj (7805).

What they said:

"We know what potential she has and what she possesses and we are working on that. Whether it's a mental block or thinking block, whatever it may be, we are working on that. Whether we can sort of sustain it for longer periods of time and whether it could be taken into a big score of 80 runs instead of a 30 or 40." - Sri Lanka head coach Rumesh Ratnayake on Hasini Perera's form

"I think they're a really dangerous side, particularly in their home conditions and we've had experience of that before when we've played Sri Lanka over here in the bilateral series. So, we know that we need to play really well. It's about playing their spinners really effectively." - New Zealand's Maddy Green on facing Sri Lanka in Colombo