Column by Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu on behalf of the ICC:
No matter what stage your career you are at, a World Cup is hugely exciting and I am extremely happy to get the opportunity to lead my country in yet another ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
The women’s game is on an massive growth curve and this will help make this latest edition even more interesting.
From the time I came into playing international cricket and up to now, the growth in women’s cricket has been marvellous to see.
I can vividly remember the first World Cup I played in 2009 as a 19-year-old and to go from that point to where the game is now has been brilliant. And what’s more, this is only going to keep going in one direction.
Our preparations have been going well. We have won the last two T20I series we played against West Indies and Bangladesh, both away series, which has given our girls a huge confident booster and some time in the middle.
We also did our training at Pallekele, which has helped us to adapt to the conditions that we will get in England.
I feel we have a well-balanced squad for this competition. Our top order has worked together for a while and has gained lot of T20I experience. Hasini Perera has started to deliver around her experience, Harshitha Samarawickrama brings in the solidity, we have a new promising batter Imesha Dulani, she is one to watch, then Nilakshika De Silva brings experience to the middle. We also have a nice blend of youth and experience in the bowling unit, and we are excited to get started in the tournament.
We have been winning games during the last two-year period, during which time we have introduced some younger players to the side in order to improve our depth.
Gradually, we are beginning to see our bench strength showing some promise and this is a result of the work which has gone into developing the game at various levels.
Whether it is improving our school cricket, District, Provincial and U19 National Cricket or emerging and ‘A’ Teams, the results are starting to show. The competition to get into the national side is increasing, which is great news and will only benefit us through this World Cup and those in the future.
My favourite part of any World Cup is representing my nation and leading a team who wants to do well for the country.
As well as that, there is the chance to interact with players from all countries at one platform and to witness a highly competitive environment, where every player and every team is competing hard to deliver results for their nation.
The T20 format is playing a massive role in the development of the women’s game and will continue to do more in the coming years.
A lot of countries are still getting into the game and playing the longer format at the very inception can be challenging. Having a short and quick game like T20 is an ideal platform to promote the women’s game and we cannot wait to play our part in doing that over the coming weeks.
Bambi Benz
Viv Richards played both cricket and football world cups.