Chamari Athapaththu, currently playing for Barbados Royals in WCPL 2024, talks up franchise cricket and the young Sri Lanka stars

Ashish Pant28-Aug-2024In July this year, right after Barbados Royals announced Chamari Athapaththu’s signing for the Women’s Caribbean League 2024, they released a video about the role Kumar Sangakkara, Royals’ director of cricket, had played in her onboarding.Athapaththu, expectedly, had offers from a number of WCPL franchises. The Sangakkara factor was key in tilting the scales in Royals’ favour.It’s a special bond. Athapaththu calls Sangakkara , which is “big brother” in Sinhala, and is her role model. Three of the last ten posts (at the time of writing this) on Sangakkara’s timeline on X mention Athapaththu. He even posted a video of himself following the last few minutes of Sri Lanka’s maiden women’s T20 Asia Cup title win – beating India in the final – from the commentary box in Birmingham.Related

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“I got a few offers from CPL, but I chose the Barbados Royals, one because of Kumar Sangakkara, because I love him,” Athapaththu told ESPNcricinfo in an interaction organised by . “He is one of the greatest cricketers ever produced by Sri Lanka. I got that opportunity because of him.”I have played in every league around the world, but I love this competition. It is a different atmosphere. The players, support staff and everything is different compared to other countries. The players have a different vibe in the dressing room. It is a good opportunity.”Athapaththu has been in spectacular white-ball form this year. She is the leading run-scorer in T20Is in 2024 with 675 runs in 17 games at an average of 48.21 and a strike rate of 134.19. In ODIs, she is second on the run chart and that includes an epic 195 not out against South Africa, the third-highest individual score in a women’s ODI.In addition, she captains Sri Lanka in both formats and is a more-than-useful offspinner. Does that put additional pressure on her? And do the expectations weigh her down?The Athapaththu-led Sri Lanka upstaged India earlier this year for their maiden Asia Cup trophy•Sri Lanka Cricket”Without pressure, I cannot perform,” she said, beaming. “Earlier, whenever I was playing for Sri Lanka, the whole batting line-up used to rest on my shoulders. But I love that pressure. I always think about what I can do for my team as a player. When I am batting, I just think like a player, not like a captain, but I know I have responsibilities. My method is to keep it simple. Just see-ball-hit-ball. I just focus on my skills and how I can execute my plans at the right time.”Athapaththu’s form has coincided with Sri Lanka’s rise, especially in the T20 format. In the last 12 months, they have played 25 T20Is, of which they have won 19, the most for any team in that span. This includes T20I series wins in England and South Africa, qualifying for the final of the Asian Games, winning the T20 World Cup qualifiers, and lifting their maiden Asia Cup trophy.She credited head coach Rumesh Ratnayake for Sri Lanka’s recent success and a positive culture in the dressing room.”[In the] last two to three years, we have had a good culture in the team. We even restructured our domestic structure, so we have got some good players,” Athapaththu said. “Last 12 months, we have played really good cricket around the world. We’ve beaten some top teams, England, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies. We continued this in the Asia Cup and beat the best team [India] in the world.”We always talk about positive things in our dressing room. The credit goes to our head coach. He is the key man behind the scenes.”The next target is the T20 World Cup 2024, which begins in a little over a month in the UAE. Sri Lanka haven’t made it to the semi-finals of the event yet, but with the form they are in, they will want to do it, and even go a step further, this time. It’s not going to be easy though, with Sri Lanka slotted in group A along with India, Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan.

“Kavisha [Dilhari] is one of the good allrounders and Harshitha [Samarawickrama] and Vishmi [Gunaratne] are the good batters in Sri Lanka. I always tell them to keep it simple, play your game, and not take too much pressure”Athapaththu on Sri Lanka’s young brigade

“Our group is tough,” Athapaththu said. “There is Australia, New Zealand, India and Pakistan. Last T20 World Cup semi-finalists and the champions in our group. Not easy, but at the end of the day in T20 cricket, anything can happen. One or two players can change the game. I trust my girls, and I hope we can play our best cricket in the T20 World Cup as well.”For the longest time for Sri Lanka, it was Athapaththu or bust. But in the last couple of years, a new crop of players have emerged. Harshitha Samarawickrama is the second-highest run-scorer in T20Is in 2024 with 534 runs at 41.07. Vishmi Gunaratne is sixth on the list with 447, while Kavisha Dilhari has shown good all-round capabilities. Samarawickrama has even bagged a WCPL contract with Trinbago Knight Riders for the 2024 season.Athapaththu has carried the weight of the Sri Lankan batting for the longest time but with the new players emerging, she now has the freedom to play her “natural game”.”I am so happy about these two to three girls. Especially Vishmi, Harshitha and Kavisha,” she said. “Kavisha is one of the good allrounders and Harshitha and Vishmi are the good batters in Sri Lanka. I always tell them to keep it simple, play your game, and not take too much pressure.”A lot of the coaches, other team players, are also talking about these girls because they are really good. They don’t have big muscles, but they are playing their best cricket in the middle. That is the important thing.”Athapaththu has been a regular in franchise leagues around the world. She has been part of the WBBL, the WPL, the Super Smash, and the Hundred to name a few. While the club vs country debate and having to adjust franchise cricket in a packed international schedules is a constant topic of discussion, Athapaththu relishes the chance to rub shoulders with the best in the business and learn from them.

I have been waiting for a long time to see a picture like this and today my dream came true.

Sri Lanka Women’s cricket in safe hands
proud of you all my youngsters
Future Sri Lankan stars
My faith is always with you. pic.twitter.com/nJEQA5JvXB

— Chamari Athapaththu 58 (@58Chamari) June 21, 2024

Full-time mom, Cricket Scotland administrator and elite sportsperson. She doesn’t want to have any regrets later

Shashank Kishore06-Oct-2024Abbi Aitken-Drummond has a full-time role as the executive assistant to Cricket Scotland’s CEO in her day job. Away from work, she co-parents her 13-month-old daughter. Between these two demanding roles, she plays cricket, and is now, quite incredibly, part of Scotland’s maiden T20 World Cup 2024 squad.Aitken-Drummond, 33, is one of Scotland’s longest-serving players, having first come into the set-up in 2003-04 at the age of 14. She captained from 2008 to 2015 and was more recently the team manager at the 2023 Women’s Under-19 World Cup in South Africa to players she now calls colleagues.”The other day, we were chatting about our journeys and Olivia Bell told me she was one year old when I made my debut,” Aitken-Drummond tells ESPNcricinfo. “I was like, ‘Wow, thanks for making me feel so old’ ().”Related

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For Aitken-Drummond, the World Cup seemed like an afterthought, especially after she had to miss the Qualifiers to be on parental leave. But she made the push when a second shot at being part of a history-making squad presented itself.”I knew it wasn’t a right that I’d be back when available,” she says. “I had to work for it. I played for Scotland A with county teams in England [during the build-up], featured for Scotland in a tri-series with Netherlands and Papua New Guinea. But in my mind, I wasn’t sure I’d done enough.”But upon her return to Edinburgh, when Aitken-Drummond received an unexpected phone call from Cricket Scotland, her heart fluttered. “It was our head of performance to tell me I’d been picked,” she remembers.”When my phone rang, I was actually eager to know which of my phones were ringing: work phone or personal phone. I was kind of hoping it wouldn’t be the work phone () because it would’ve then been some admin-related stuff.”When the phone rang, in my mind I was like ‘this is now or never. Which phone is it?’ And then I saw his name pop up on my personal phone. I kind of knew it was about selection. Had I known we’d get calls that day, I may have been beside the phone, restless all day. It’s a good thing I didn’t know when the squad was being picked.”

“I know just being part of the 15, whether I play or not, I can provide a lot of support. I’ve been team manager to four of them in the past and I’d like to think my door is always open.”Abbi Aitken-Drummond

Aitken-Drummond isn’t privy to sensitive matters, such as selection, despite being a Cricket Scotland employee. It’s a boundary she has learnt to draw having juggled a career as a player and administrator. Having studied Event Management in university, Aitken-Drummond has loved to apply some of her learnings to “this side of the rope as well as the other side.””Most players tend to go down the coaching path, but my passion lies in the administration,” she says. “Our CEO Trudy Lindblade has been in the role for eight months now. She’s my line manager back home, but over here [in the UAE] she’s like, ‘we’re not speaking work. Focus on your game and enjoy it.’ I’ve been away from my laptop, enjoying being on this side of the fence.”Aitken-Drummond had to put in long days – sometimes they stretch 18 hours – to make this journey possible. The motivation for her daughter to say, “my mum played in Scotland’s first World Cup” and for her partner [Annette Drummond, former Scotland player] to “live a dream she missed out on” pushed her.”It has needed a whole new level of organisation skills,” she says. “I’m at work for 10 hours a day, four days a week – Monday to Thursday from 8am to 6pm. Quite often I’m able to work from home, so that helps being around our daughter. Then I head to the nets for my training. No two days are the same. It’s so much easier when you have a routine, but that’s been challenging.”Sometimes, it’s not possible and then I’d feel that guilt of not training enough. But I also recognise if you’re not able to sleep enough, those gym sessions are unlikely to be productive either. So, I’ve learnt to be flexible about these things. So, most days after dinner, when I’ve put my daughter to sleep, I head over to the gym, try sneak in a session or two indoors. It’s tough to juggle everything, but you try and do as best as you can.”I don’t want to look back and regret these small things later on, they grow up quick. But I’m really grateful to my partner for the support. This wouldn’t be possible without her. She pushed me, saying, ‘I don’t want you to regret later, this is your chance, go get it.'”For the moment, Aitken-Drummond is happy being part of the group, irrespective of her role within the set-up. “If you’d told me 20 years ago Scotland would play in a women’s World Cup, I’d have laughed.”The big goal was to make sure I was here. I know just being part of the 15, whether I play or not, I can provide a lot of support. I’ve been team manager to four of them in the past and I’d like to think my door is always open.”I enjoy one-on-one sessions. If girls are struggling, happy or overwhelmed – just be there for them. Any game I play, I play like it’s my last. Life changes quickly, juggling so many priorities, I don’t want to regret that I could’ve potentially played my last game not having known that. So, I tried each day as it comes.”

Scotland legspinner Abtaha Maqsood opens up ahead of her team’s maiden appearance at the Women’s T20 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2024On this week’s ESPNcricinfo podcast Powerplay, Scotland legspinner Abtaha Maqsood talks to Valkerie Baynes and Firdose Moonda from Dubai ahead of her team’s maiden appearance at the Women’s T20 World Cup.

Vote for the best individual Border-Gavaskar Trophy performance by an Indian in Australia since 2000

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2024Update: This poll has ended. Rishabh Pant’s performance goes into the semi-finals. Check the other polls here.ESPNcricinfo LtdVVS Laxman’s maiden Test ton was the first of many special innings against Australia•AFP via Getty Images

VVS Laxman – 167 in Sydney, 2000

Australia won by an innings and 141 runs, and won the series 3-0After heavy defeats in Adelaide and Melbourne, India were running on fumes by the time the final Test began at the SCG. VVS Laxman wasn’t meant to open in Australia but the lack of viable options meant he had to perform a role he didn’t particularly enjoy.Up until Sydney, Sachin Tendulkar was the only Indian batter to have shown fight on the tour, but after India capitulated once again in the first innings, Laxman let rip. A blow to the helmet from Glenn McGrath was the trigger that made him play like he had nothing to lose.A maiden Test hundred off just 114 balls, full of gloriously languid drives and flicks that rivalled the watching Mark Waugh’s repertoire, grew into an innings of 167 with 27 boundaries. As he walked off the field to applause from the Australians on the field and in the stands, it was just the start of Laxman’s very, very special love affair with Australia.By Shashank KishoreWatch the highlights of these performances on the Star Sports network at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm IST, from November 2 onwards.Rishabh Pant helped India achieve the unimaginable at the Gabba•Patrick Hamilton/AFP/Getty Images

Rishabh Pant – 89* in Brisbane, 2021

India won by three wickets, and the series 2-1All the things that didn’t make sense on this tour – India all out for 36, their three jillion injuries, the hassle of cricket in quarantine – found meaning when Rishabh Pant began to play the innings of a lifetime. He was 23 and he helped obliterate a record that had stood for way longer than he’d been alive. Australia’s undefeated streak in Brisbane was 32 years old when it was finally laid to rest. “This is one of the biggest things in my life right now,” Pant said after a performance that proved just how dangerous a batter he could be when he adopts even the smallest bit of restraint.Chasing 328 at the Gabba – 324 on the final day – India still needed 161 runs with about 43 overs to go when Pant walked in at No. 5. He got going, and kept going, even as wickets fell and the overs ticked by. Eventually, with only minutes left on the clock, he lashed Josh Hazlewood down the ground to accomplish one of the greatest series wins in Test history.By Alagappan Muthu

New Zealand are hoping to build towards the ICC event in February. Sri Lanka, though, couldn’t qualify for it

Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Nov-2024Sri Lanka and New Zealand shared the T20I series 1-1. ESPNcricinfo looks ahead to the three ODIs which, for the visitors, will have Champions Trophy implications, and for the hosts, a chance to build on much-improved recent form.Recent ODI historyTry not to fall off your chair, but New Zealand have not played a single ODI since December 2023. It’s not that much of a shock if you’ve been following what’s happening to the sport (essentially, T20 is the format beloved of capitalists, Tests are still the purists’ big love, and ODIs have become the forgotten middle child). But still, 11 months without a match is a long time, so New Zealand will have some jogging of the memory to do.Sri Lanka have been playing the format much more frequently. They’ve done pretty well, in fact, winning 10 of their 15 matches in 2024. They’ve played five series, losing just one to Bangladesh, which is the only one they’ve played away from home.Related