England Women qualify for 2017 ICC World Cup after thrashing Sri Lanka
Saturday 12 November 2016 14:21, UK
Heather Knight, Lauren Winfield and Natalie Sciver made half-centuries as England Women beat Sri Lanka to make the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup.
Captain Knight did the best work with the bat during England's innings in Colombo, top-scoring with 53 off 58 deliveries, including three fours and three sixes. She later fell to Sripali Weerakkody.
Winfield (51) lost fellow opener Tammy Beaumont to Sugandika Kumari's bowling in the 13th over but Knight and Sciver steadied the ship, the latter making 51 before losing her wicket to Ama Kanchana.
England were bowled out by the last ball of the innings to settle for 295 all out. In reply, Sri Lanka could only reach 173 with Danielle Hazell taking three wickets and Laura Marsh two.
Having won their opening one-day international by eight wickets earlier this week, England needed one more victory from their three remaining ODIs to reach the 2017 World Cup on home turf.
Knight said: "We're really chuffed. It's been a long road to get here which started two years ago. We have the best fans in the world, so to get the opportunity to play in a World Cup on home soil is really exciting.
"A few of us got out for fifties, ideally you'd like one of those to go on and get a big score. Katherine Brunt had a bit of a niggle, so we were a bowler down.
"But with Sri Lanka having nine left-handers, having two world-class off-spinners and seeing them bowl in tandem was brilliant."
