Ireland Women vs Sri Lanka Women Prediction: Ireland wrote history by winning the first game

Ireland and Sri Lanka are going head to head in the Match 2 of One Day Series at Civil Service Cricket Club, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom on 18th August 2024. Ireland wrote history by winning the first game of the tournament. Who will win this game of cricket?

Ireland will go into the game full of confidence after notching their first win over Sri Lanka Women in ODI format and, importantly, pulled off a chase of plus 200 for the first time ever. There were problems with the falling wickets during the chase, but an all-round performance by Orla Prendergast - she scored 122 runs off 107 balls - bailed them out. Throughout the game, Ireland kept the run rate in check and never allowed pressure to get a hold of them.

Though Amy Hunter appeared to struggle in the T20 series, she looked quite near to scoring a half-century in the recent match. Afterward, Sarah Forbes gave the team a good start by making 30 runs off 46 balls. The chase could have been different if the lower order of Ireland had made more of an impact.

Added to her fine display with the bat was a more-than-useful return with the ball, with Prendergast claiming the key wicket of Chamari Athapaththu and returning figures of 3/25 from eight overs. Alana Dalzell and Arlene Kelly rounded out a fine all-round team performance by each claiming two wickets in the match.

 Alana Dalzell, Rebecca Stokell, Freya Sargent, Gaby Lewis, Alice Tector, Leah Paul, Amy Hunter, Orla Prendergast, Arlene Kelly, Sarah Forbes, Jane Maguire

Sri Lanka got off to a very good start in the ODI series, thanks to Vishmi Gunaratne's century off 98 balls. However, things started to go downhill as they started losing wickets. The defeat in the first ODI came as a huge disappointment for the Sri Lanka Women's side since it meant the visitors were on the verge of losing their unbeaten record against the Ireland Women. Though they lost the battle, it won't come as a surprise if Sri Lanka gets knocked out of the championship due to their past performances in the WT20 series. It was almost as if Vishmi Gunaratne's exquisite performance—the only player on her team who has hit three sixes and nine boundaries—was not supported by any other member of this team. Hasini Perera came up with 46 runs to try and stabilize the innings. Kavisha Dilhari was the lead bowler with a four-for, but her economy rate was a bit higher. Sri Lanka needs to regroup after their loss in the WT20I series.

Vishmi Gunaratne, Chamari Athapaththu, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Hasini Perera, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshika Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani, Sachini Nisansala, Sugandika Kumari, Achini Kulasuriya, Udeshika Prabodhani

Ireland did well to beat Sri Lanka, using home conditions to great effect to make up for a very uninspiring batting performance from the top order. Sri Lanka has had a tough time of late, and based on that, it's difficult to see them coming out on top in this one. So we are going to predict an Ireland Women win.