All-round Chamari Athapaththu helps Sri Lanka to 1-0 lead over West Indies

Skipper Chamari Athapaththu's all-round show ensured Sri Lanka took a 1-0 lead over the West Indies with a four-wicket win in the second T20I in Grenada. The first match of the series was washed out due to rain.

It wasn't a commanding win for the tourists: put in to bat, the West Indies managed only 101/9, but tested Sri Lanka in the chase. It could have been trickier if it wasn't for Player of the Match Athapaththu's early blitz, adding to her contribution with the ball.

Athapaththu shared the new ball - just like she had in the rained-out first T20I - conceding nine runs off her first five balls, before handing Sri Lanka their first breakthrough. She snuck one past Qiana Joseph's wild swipe to rattle her off-stump, claiming her first T20I wicket in the Caribbean since 2018.

Jahzara Claxton fell next - in the final over of the Powerplay - attempting to take on Malki Madara, with two fielders - Vishmi Gunaratne and Kavisha Dilhari - almost colliding at cover to take the catch.

From that point on, captain Hayley Matthews took it upon herself to rebuild alongside Stafanie Taylor: by the end of 10 overs, the hosts had ambled to 45/2.

Matthews tried to accelerate the following over, but her slog sweep off Athapaththu only fell into the hands of the fielder at deep backward square. Her 28 would end up being West Indies' top score of the innings.

Deandra Dottin brought up West Indies' only six in the 13th over with a heave off Sugandika Kumari, but the struggle to accelerate in the middle phase continued. Next over, Dottin perished trying to target the same area, and Chinelle Henry followed the over after, stumped off Dilhari.

The slide continued: Malki's canny slower ball rattled Shermaine Campbell's stumps, following it with a leg-cutter that came in sharply, cleaning up Jannilea Glasgow. On a pitch visibly on the slower side, her variations really tied up the West Indies.

Quickly running out of partners, Taylor tried to launch Nilakshika on the off side, but couldn't beat the fielder at cover, leaving them eight down in the 18th over.

Next over, Malki could have had her fourth, but Athapaththu spilled a catch sliding in the deep. Off the penultimate ball, Nilakshika missed another, failing to grab a return catch.

But there was more drama: the batters took the opportunity to exchange ends, but No.11 Karishma Ramharack's desperation for a second run saw her out obstructing the field.

Replays showed that Ramharack tried to block the throw at her end, bringing an eventful end to the West Indies' slow-burn innings.

Incidentally, less than two weeks ago, Dottin had also been dismissed for obstruction in the ODI series.

Athapaththu set the tone for the chase with a stylish cut off Matthews in the opening over, looking particularly aggressive against her West Indies counterpart. In Matthews's next over, Athapaththu launched one over mid-off, and followed it with a controlled sweep to the square-leg fence. She finished the over by pulling her for a six over mid-wicket, the only six of the innings.

Her onslaught continued with two fours in a row off Ramharack, mixing power down the ground with a deft touch behind the wicket. Henry was clubbed past point twice in the final over of Powerplay, the second one off a wayward full toss.

At 45/0 in six overs, Sri Lanka looked set to quickly wrap it up. Fellow opener Hasini Perera, a spectator until that point, collected a couple of boundaries behind square to get going as well, taking them to 56/0 in seven.

But the West Indies weren't going down without a fight.

Hasini's attempt to slog sweep Matthews in the eighth over led to an easy catch at short fine-leg. At that point, they needed 40 off 76. No stress.

But four balls later, Athapaththu was out lbw as well, pinned to the crease by Fletcher. All the early momentum quickly dissipated, as they managed just eight runs off the next 22 balls. When Harshitha, eager to get going, was out caught behind off Ramharack, the equation came down to 32 off 48.

Imesha, on 2 off 15, tried to take on Fletcher, but ended up lobbing an easy catch to mid wicket. Joseph then had Nilakshika stumped at the start of the 14th over. In the six overs since Athapaththu's dismissal, Sri Lanka had managed just 12 runs. Five down at 74, the chase suddenly started looking wobbly.

But the West Indies just did not have enough runs to properly challenge them: they sent back Gunaratne in the 17th over with 11 needed off 19, but Kavisha ensured Sri Lanka went through without any more drama.

Brief scores: West Indies Women 101/9 in 20 overs (Hayley Matthews 28, Stafanie Taylor 14, Malki Madara 3-16, Nilakshika Silva 3-20) lost to Sri Lanka Women 102/6 in 18.1 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 39, Kavisha Dilhari 18*, Qiana Joseph 2-13, Afy Fletcher 2-16) by four wickets