Sri Lanka eager to spring Windies surprise

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, (CMC):

An upbeat Sri Lanka Women are on their way to the Caribbean, confident of springing a surprise on West Indies Women, in the limited overs series starting next Wednesday in Trinidad.

Team manager Indrani Abeyratne said the squad had improved significantly thanks to their World Cup campaign last July in England, with the experience helping them to become a better unit.

She said they had also benefited from good preparation and were now focused on performing well on the tour.

"The players have worked hard on their preparations and there is a changed outlook as a whole," Abeyratne said.

Sri Lanka finished seventh at the Women's World Cup, winning a single match against Pakistan, who finished bottom of the eight-team standings without a point.

West Indies had a miserable campaign as well, winning just twice, with one of those victories coming against the Sri Lankans - a 47-run at Derby.

Despite their disappointing run, however, head coach Hemantha Devappriya said the side's batting had improved significantly to the stage where they were now averaging closer to 200 in their innings.

"A concern was that we were not getting close to 200. The team used to average 130, which were not good enough but in the seven matches in the World Cup we averaged 190," he said.

"We developed a range of shots to increase the number of singles. We were therefore able to increase from an average of 40 runs to 80 at the World Cup through singles."

Sri Lanka face the Windies in the opening One-Day International at the Brian Lara Stadium next Wednesday before following up with the second match two days later and the final match at the same venue on October 15.

The two teams then travel to Antigua for a three-match Twenty20 series from October 19-22 at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.

SQUAD: Inoka Ranaweera (captain), Sripali Weerakkody (vice captain), Rebeca Vandort, Prasadani Weerakkody, Chamari Athapaththu, Dilani Manohara, Nipuni Hansika, Hasini Perera, Yashoda Mendis, Chandima Gunarathne, Hansima Karunarathne, Shashikala Siriwardena, Ama Kanchana, Achini Kulasuriya, Udeshika Prabodhani.