Australia Women vs Sri Lanka Women, 2019: 1st T20I – Chamari's record hundred, Mooney’s brilliance, a high-scoring T20I and more stats

Australia Women started off the home season with a 41-run win in the first of the 3-match T20I series against Sri Lanka Women. Beth Mooney scored 113 from 61 deliveries with 20 fours for the hosts. Alyssa Healy (43) and Ashleigh Gardner (49) made crucial contributions in helping the team to 217/4. The Sri Lankan chase was all about Chamari Atapattu who also scored exactly 113 from 66 balls with 13 fours and six maximums. No other player even scored 20 runs as the visiting team ended up with 176/7.

All the statistical highlights from a record-breaking Women’s T20I match in Sydney:

A game of runs and hundreds:

393 – A total of 393 runs were scored by both teams in this match; the 2nd most runs ever recorded in a Women’s T20I. The last year’s game between India and England during the Women’s T20I Tri-series in Mumbai aggregated 397 runs in 38.4 overs only.

217/4 – Australia’s total of 217/4 is the first-ever 200+ total in Women’s T20I Cricket on Australian soil. England Women’s total of 181/6 during their 179-run chase in 2017 against the hosts is the previous highest Women’s T20I total in Australia.

This is also the 2nd highest total for Australia Women in T20I format behind the 226/3 which they posted during the Women’s Ashes game this year. The total of 176/7 in reply is Sri Lanka Women’s highest T20I total surpassing the 155/10 they posted against last year.

3 – This is only the 3rd T20I game in Women’s cricket where two individuals scored centuries. The Canberra T20I between Australia and England during the 2017 Women’s Ashes saw centuries from Beth Mooney and Danielle Wyatt. Earlier this year, P Alako and R Musamali scored centuries for Uganda in the same game against Mali Women in Rwanda.

Atapattu’s record ton:

1 – Chamari Atapattu became the first player to score a T20I century for Sri Lanka Women. She has scored five out of six International hundreds for Sri Lanka Women.

Atapattu also became the first player to score a century in both ODIs and T20Is against Australia Women. She scored 178 during the Women’s World Cup game in 2017.

1 – Chamari Atapattu also became the first woman to score a T20I century as captain while chasing. In fact, she is only the 2nd to score a hundred in a T20I chase as captain across Men’s and Women’s cricket. Paras Khadka became the first to do so less than 24 hours before Atapattu’s knock.

2 – Chamari’s hundred is only the 2nd in Women’s T20I cricket to result in a defeat. Beth Mooney’s unbeaten 117 in the 2017 Canberra T20I against England was the first century in losing cause in Women’s T20I cricket.

Big records for Mooney:

2 – Beth Mooney became the 4th Woman with two centuries in the T20I format. Deandra Dottin, Danielle Wyatt and Meg Lanning are the other three Women with multiple T20I hundreds.

20 – Mooney broke her own record most fours in a T20I inning (Men’s or Women’s cricket) by hitting 20 fours on Sunday. She hit 19 fours during her unbeaten 117 against England Women in 2017.

Australia Women’s happy hunting ground:

7 – Australia Women won all the seven T20I matches they played at the North Sydney Oval. No other team has won more T20I matches (Men/Women) without losing even one at a single venue.

A lone effort from Chamari:

113 – Atapattu’s hundred is the first T20I century in Women’s where no other player in the innings scored even 20 runs. Hansima Karunaratne’s 16 is the 2nd highest score for Sri Lanka in this game. This is also the highest individual score in Women’s cricket where the 2nd highest score in the innings was less than 20.

Atapattu recorded the highest score across Women’s and Men’s International cricket where no other player reached even 25 when she struck 178 in the 2017 World Cup against the Aussies. Shashikala Siriwardene was Sri Lanka Women’s 2nd top-scorer with 24.

New record for identical scores:

113 – Mooney and Atapattu scored exactly 113 in this game; the highest identical scores in a T20I game. India’s Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma scored 80 runs apiece in the 2017 Delhi T20I against New Zealand. In Women’s T20I cricket, the previous highest identical score in a game is 56.

Exactly one year ago at the same venue, Meg Lanning and Katey Martin scored unbeaten 56 for Australia and New Zealand respectively. Lizelle Lee (56*) and Marizanne Kapp (56) also scored 56 runs apiece in this year’s T20I for South Africa against Pakistan.