UP women make winning start to Sri Lankan tour

Uttar Pradesh started their six-match tour of Sri Lanka with an exciting victory against Slimline at the NCC grounds in Colombo on Tuesday. Under the interested gaze of the Sri Lankan men's squad, who were practising at NCC, UP bowled out Slimline for 90 runs to give them a 21 run victory.

The UP tour has given the Women's Cricket Association of Sri Lanka a chance to look at a number of players who are in contention for a place in the World Cup squad. For the players, the tour thus represents a potential springboard to New Zealand later this year.

Slimline started well, winning the toss and electing to field. They soon had UP in trouble when they took the first wicket in the sixth over and continued thereafter to take regular wickets. Priyanka Shally was the only visitors batsmen to settle down, scoring a patient 34 from 83 deliveries that included three boundaries. Without her contribution and a generous donation of wides, UP would have struggled to reach fifty. All the Slimline bowlers bowled economically and the wickets were deservedly shared between them.

When Slimline began their innings in a confident fashion, cruising to 27 without loss by the eigth over, UP must have feared the worst. Varsha Raphael (2-15), Preethi Dimri (2-21) and Rahul Sinha (3-15) pulled the visitors back into the game with some accurate bowling whilst Slimline collapsed from 27-0 to 61-6. A spirited innings by Ramini Perera (18) threatened to restore Slimline's control over the match but then she was run out. This marked the beginning of the end for Slimline as they collapsed meekly, losing their last four wickets for just two runs.

UP's next match will be against a WCA Young Women's XI at the Colts Ground on April 20.