ESPNcricinfo Awards 2024 women's ODI batting winner: Chamari, smash!

Chamari Athapaththu

195 not out vs South Africa, third ODI, Potchefstroom

It could not have been scripted better. Athapaththu made history with a career-best score in a record chase. No team in women's ODI cricket had ever successfully chased a score above 300 before, and Sri Lanka had never even scored 300 in an ODI innings.

Ten days before the match, Athapaththu had hinted at international retirement with a series of cryptic social-media posts, but those thoughts were shelved as she set about dismantling a South Africa side who would have thought they had enough runs on the board. Athapathathu and fellow opener Vishmi Gunaratne got their side off to a solid start with 90 inside the first 16 overs but then Sri Lanka lost four wickets for 36 and it seemed the game was gone. Except, Athapaththu had other ideas.

Two overs after the first wicket fell, she took 14 runs off offspinner Delmi Tucker, serving a reminder of the danger she posed, and once the halfway mark was reached, Athapaththu cut loose. Her century came off 78 balls, she shared in a 179-run fifth-wicket partnership with Nilakshika Silva and commandeered the chase almost single-handedly.

Athapaththu appeared in complete control throughout her innings, oozing belief that the chase was on, underlining her dominance by wrapping up the game with more than five overs to spare.

The win gave Sri Lanka a 1-1 draw in the series and earned them two vital points that contributed to securing automatic qualification for this year's ODI World Cup.

Key moment

At the halfway stage, Sri Lanka were on 149 for 4, with the required run rate just above six. They needed 153 more off 150 balls. In the next over, Athapaththu got to her hundred with a boundary off Nonkululekho Mlaba, South Africa's dynamic left-arm spinner, who had conceded only six runs from her first two overs and was the most economical of the attack. From that point on, Sri Lanka were ahead of the game, the required rate staying at six or lower, and Athapaththu appeared unstoppable. Her next 95 runs came off 61 balls, at a strike rate above 155, and she struck 12 more fours and two sixes.

The numbers

3 Athapaththu's position on the list of highest individual scores. Her 195 is also the highest by a Sri Lankan in women's ODIs.

9 Number of ODI centuries Athapaththu had after this game. At the time, she was the only Sri Lanka batter to have scored a hundred in the format. Since then, Gunaratne and Harshitha Samarawickrama have also reached three figures.

What they said
"Wow, what a knock from Chamari. Congratulations to her and the team for a magnificent win."
- Sanath Jayasuriya, former Sri Lanka men's captain

The closest contender

Laura Wolvaardt
184 not out v Sri Lanka, third ODI, Potchefstroom
With a match aggregate of 606 runs, it's hardly a surprise that the next-best knock of 2024 came in the same game as Athapaththu's performance, albeit on the losing side. Wolvaardt, South Africa's captain, may have thought she had done enough when she scored her fastest hundred, off 100 balls, and South Africa set Sri Lanka a target of 302. She dominated the 116-run opening stand with Lara Goodall, in which she scored 83. Wolvaardt's last 84 runs came off 47 balls - a demonstration of how she has raised her attacking game. She ended with the highest score by a South African in women's ODIs, the fifth-highest overall, and the highest in a losing cause.

ESPNcricinfo Awards 2024