Bates helps New Zealand Women wrap up series

New Zealand Women 114 for 7 (Bates 69, Kanchana 3-22) beat Sri Lanka Women 103 for 8 (Atapattu 47, Bates 3-23, Kasperek 3-7) by 11 runs
Scorecard

Allrounder Suzie Bates held New Zealand Women's innings together with 69 and followed up with figures of 3 for 23 to help the hosts seal the series against Sri Lanka Women before the final T20, in Nelson.

Chasing 115, Sri Lanka started positively with Chamari Atapattu and Prasadani Weerakoddy taking their side to 50 in 10.4 overs. They added 14 more before Bates had Weerakoddy stumped for 21. Bates then got rid of Oshadi Ranasinghe and Ama Kanchana, triggering a terminal slide. Bates was assisted by offspinner Leigh Kasperek, who took three wickets for seven runs. From 64 for 0, Sri Lanka slumped to 103 for 8, with New Zealand winning by 11 runs.

Having opted to bat, Bates had earlier lifted the hosts to a middling total, after pacer Kanchana struck three times in her first three overs. Rachael Priest, Sophie Devine, and Sara McGlashan, featuring in her 200th international match for New Zealand, fell to Kanchana for single-digit scores, but Bates went on to score her ninth T20 fifty. She put on 36 and 28 with Amy Satterthwaite and Liz Perry to mount a recovery, and he total of 114 for 7 proved adequate in the end.