By Srian Obeyesekere

Sri Lanka Women’a Captain has raised her stocks in hitting the top bracket third place in the ICC Player Rankings in underlining the fact that at 37 years her game has not mellowed and thatvshe still packs the firepower particularly as a batter that saw her challenge the best in the world to occupying the top No 1 slot among the best in the world. The experienced Lankan captain scored for the old guard that maturing with age was a fine old wine element that the tribe get better and better by the years as opposed to some who wither with age and fade off.

Indeed, Chamari has made the word fade a distant thing in her game best exemplified by her all-round Player of the Series performance against Bangladesh Women in defeating them in their own backyard for a historic T20 series win.
Her typical lead from the front fighting approach to that champagne triumph against Bangladesh at Sylhet saw her rise two slots to third place and career-best rating points of 368 in the ICC Women’s T20I All-Rounder Rankings following her team’s 3-0 whitewash against Bangladesh.

Athapaththu aggregated 115 runs from their three encounters, with scores of 32, 42 and 41, and also had four wickets to her name. The players ahead of her on the list are captains Amelia Kerr of New Zealand and Hayley Matthews of the West Indies.

The Sri Lanka captain has also risen three places to 41st in the bowlers’ list and remains steady in ninth position among the batters. Her performances have sent a strong message ahead of Sri Lanka’s tournament opening fixture against England at the highly anticipated ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in England and Wales on 12 June.