Sri Lanka's Women's captain writes for CricInfo

Women's cricket has come a long way in the last years in Sri Lanka. When I first starting playing we only played softball cricket and were not taken seriously. However, almost ten years on, we leave for the CricInfo Women's World Cup in New Zealand soon and we are confident of doing well.

I began playing cricket with my brothers in the backyard at home before joining Kotta Youth Club in 1993 to play both cricket and basketball. Then, in 1993, I joined Colts Cricket Club. We still used a softball. One day the men's coach, Ranjit Samarasekera, came over to me and asked whether I would like to bowl my medium pacers with the men, who were training at the same time.

I remember clearly the faces of the men. They were clearly amused by the novel concept and didn't really take me seriously. That seemed to change though when I clean bowled one of the batsmen. Nowadays, the men's players have accepted us, and they are really supportive, especially the guys in the national squad. They even help us with our equipment.

It wasn't until 1996 and 1997 that women's cricket in Sri Lanka really started to take off and teams started to form in Colombo. Until the inaugural all island in 1996 we used to have to play against Under 13 and 15 boys sides.

The Women's Cricket Association of Sri Lanka (WCASL) was formed in 1996 and it was decided that we should compete in the 1997 World Cup in India. We prepared as best we could, but we were too inexperienced. The girls weren't used to the hard leather ball and were a little scared of it.

Nevertheless, we managed to qualify for the quarterfinals. We were lucky to have our group game against India abandoned due to rain. With the points from that and a six-wicket victory over the West Indies, we squeezed into the next round by virtue of a superior net run rate.

We had to play England and lost the game by nine wickets in the end. The greatest problem was the batting. Without the experience the players did not know how to build an innings, didn't recognise the value of singles, and hadn't mastered the art of hitting the ball into the gaps. The fielding and bowling though was excellent. We impressed people in both departments and competed well against all the teams.

The 1997 tournament proved to be something of a catalyst for the women's game here. Women really wanted to start playing and more clubs formed sides. We were able to play more tournaments, go on more tours and gain invaluable experience. Now, having had a greater exposure to leather ball cricket, we are in a position to do well in New Zealand.