England maintained their clean sheet of results so far in the 2025 Women's World Cup with a comfortable victory over Sri Lanka in Colombo.
England maintain group stage clean sheet
Having won their opening two rounds, England played their first match in Colombo today (October 11), facing Sri Lanka, who last played in the tournament's opening game. After an early wobble where they lost both openers in the powerplay, Heather Knight and Nat Sciver-Brunt came together to form an important partnership, putting on 60 runs together.
Knight was was dismissed by Inoka Ranaweera on review, before the left-arm spinner went on to take two wickets in the same over for the second time in the tournament. She dismissed Emma Lamb and Alice Capsey within five balls of each other, leaving England teetering on the edge of a sub-par total. However, Sciver-Brunt ensured they cleared the 250 mark, scoring her 10th ODI century. She now holds the overall record for the most centuries scored in women's 50-over World Cups, having passed Suzie bates, Jan Brittin and current coach Charlotte Edwards with her fifth.
Read more: 1,000 women’s ODI runs in a year: Why no one has done it yet, and why three could do it in 2025
In response, Sri Lanka had to do without their talismanic captain Chamari Athapaththu early in their innings. The opener went off on a stretcher with hamstring pain, but later returned to the field. Third-wicket pairing Hasini Perera and Harshitha Samarawickrama put on a dangerous stand to take Sri Lanka to 95-1, before an extraordinary spell from Sophie Ecclestone turned the game.
Also read: Why all-female World Cup umpiring panel isn't the gender equality win it looks like
Ecclestone had figures of 3-4 at one point, having dismissed both Samarawickrama and Perera, as well as Kavisha Dilhari. She also got the pivotal wicket of Athapaththu after she returned to the crease. Ecclestone finished with figures of 4-17, having bowled 46 dot balls in her spell. Linsey Smith took the final wicket in the 46th over, to give England an 89-run victory and put them at the top of the points table.
Match 12, England Women vs Sri Lanka Women
vs
- Ball by ball Over
Women's World Cup 2025: Updated points table after SL v ENG
| Teams | Mat | Won | Lost | NR | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1.864 |
| Australia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | +1.960 |
| India | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0.959 |
| South Africa | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | -0.888 |
| Bangladesh | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -0.077 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -0.624 |
| Sri Lanka | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -1.255 |
| Pakistan | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1.887 |
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