Playing two of the toughest teams at the start is beneficial to us – Athapaththu

Aussies say Sri Lankan spinners will be biggest threat

- BY SA'ADI THAWFEEQ

OF all the teams taking part in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, Sri Lanka has the toughest two matches to start their campaign.

They played host nation India in their first outing at Guwahati and lost it by 59 runs (DLS method) due to fielding errors and a stumble in their middle order batting. Today they confront the defending champions Australia at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, which is going to be no easy game either, but Captain Chamari Athapaththu relishes the challenge.

"It's really good for us to start against the strongest teams in the competition because after that we are coming up against teams like South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh whom we have beaten in the last 12-15 months. Playing the strong sides first gives us the opportunity to prepare well and learn from our mistakes. We are playing on home soil and we have a little bit of advantage, but at the end of the day we have to play our best cricket."