Athapaththu’s unbeaten 106 keeps Sri Lanka’s semi-final hopes alive
Chamari Athapaththu hammered the highest score of this Women’s T20 World Cup as Sri Lanka chased down Ireland with 27 balls to spare in Bristol.
Jun 24, 2026
Chamari Athapaththu has rescued Sri Lanka before, and at Bristol on Tuesday she did it again in the most emphatic way. The Sri Lanka captain hit an unbeaten 106 off 61 balls to bulldoze a nine-wicket win over Ireland, the highest individual score of this Women’s T20 World Cup, and one that drags her side’s faint semi-final hopes back to life.
Set 131 to win, Sri Lanka barely broke stride. Athapaththu went after the Ireland attack from the first over and never let go, reaching three figures with 17 fours and two sixes before steering her team to 134 for 1 in 15.3 overs. The chase was done with 27 balls to spare.
Athapaththu’s day from start to finish
It was the left-hander’s fourth century in T20 internationals, but remarkably her first at a World Cup, and it could hardly have come at a better time. She picked gaps that were not there for anyone else and turned a modest target into a procession, collecting the player-of-the-match award for a knock that was brutal from the opening over to the winning runs.
For all that Sri Lanka still need results to fall their way, the manner of this win matters. It lifted their net run rate from minus 1.913 to minus 0.973, the kind of swing that can decide who sneaks into the last four when the points are level. On a night when they had to win big, they won big.
Ireland left to rue a slow build
Ireland had at least given themselves something to bowl at. After a sluggish start they recovered to 130 for 5, captain Gaby Lewis leading the way with 59 off 50. It was a competitive total on paper, but it needed early wickets to defend, and those never came. Athapaththu saw to that.
The defeat all but ends Ireland’s interest in the knockout race. For Sri Lanka, fourth in the group behind England, West Indies and New Zealand, the equation is still tight and still out of their hands. What they have now is a pulse, and a captain in the kind of form that makes a group of death feel a little less daunting.