Women's Cricket: Sri Lanka and Australia women ODI series to begin from Sunday

While Australia Women will be highly focused on gaining that one point which will help them qualify automatically for the ICC Women's World Cup 2017, Sri Lanka Women will be banking on home advantage to provide the world's top ranked team to an unexpected threat when the two sides kick-start the four-match ODI series at Dambulla on Sunday (18). 

Australia Women, who are leading the ICC Women's Championship Table with 24 points from 15 games are certain that they are one of the four teams that will earn automatic qualification for next year's Women's World Cup, which will be held in England and Wales between June 26 and July 23. 

They have completed five of the seven rounds and are placed comfortably in the rankings, but will not take Sri Lanka Women, placed eighth in the table with five points. 

"We go out there to win every game we play in, and this series is no different. We’ve been in pretty good form in One Day cricket, so we’re looking forward to testing ourselves in different conditions against a good team," stated Australia Women's skipper Meg Lanning. 

Sri Lanka will be eager to provide what they are capable of under home conditions, as they rely on spinners in the ranks of left-armers Inoka Ranaweera and Sugandika Kumari, who have been in quite good form lately. 

But for Chamari Atapattu, the captain of the home team, the series, which includes four ODIs and a Twenty20 game, is a platform to stamp their status against one of the top teams in world cricket. 

"We have a good team consisting of experience and talent. We have selected very talented players, although they lack experience, if they perform to their potential, we can still pose a big challenge to Australia. The Australian players are physically stronger than us and they can go for big hits whenever needed, but we are confident that our spinners will try and keep them under the 200-run mark as much as possible," stated Atapattu. 

The first three games of the ODI series -- the first bilateral ODI series between Sri Lanka and Australia women -- will count as part of qualification for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, the fourth match and the only Twenty20 game of the tour will count in the ICC team and individual rankings. 

After Sunday's ODI series opener at Dambulla, the second game will follow at the same venue on Tuesday (20) before the two teams travel down to Colombo to play the third and fourth ODIs at the R. Premadasa Stadium on September 23 and 25. 

The tour will come to an end with the only Twenty20 game at the SSC on September 27. 

Sri Lanka (from): Chamari Atapattu (captain), Sugandi Dasanayaka, Inoshi Fernando, Nipuni Hansika, Ama Kanchana, Achini Kulasooriya, Eshani Lokusooriya, Harshitha Madhavi, Dilani Manodara, Imalka Mendis, Chamari Polgampala, Udeshika Prabhodani, Inoka Ranaweera and Prasadani Weerakkody. 

Australia (from): Meg Lanning (captain), Alex Blackwell, Kristen Beams, Nicole Bolton, Rene Farrell, Holly Ferling, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney, Erin Osborne, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt and Elyse Villani.