Sri Lanka’s new women’s head coach, Jamie Siddons, has poured cold water on talk of Chamari Athapaththu walking away from international cricket any time soon. The 36-year-old captain, now in her 16th year at the top level, remains “the rock of the national side” and, according to Siddons, is still hungry for more.
“Chamari, I’ve had a great chat with her. She is keen to play for a lot longer than one or two more years,” he said during his first extended media briefing since taking charge on 16 March. If Athapaththu “keeps working on that hard,” Siddons sees no reason she cannot continue to “dominate international cricket”.
Key points first, then we dig a little deeper. Athapaththu’s future has been a running theme ever since last year’s ODI World Cup in India, where Sri Lanka exited early and the captain openly questioned her workload. Yet recent form tells a different story: she led the side to both ODI and T20I series wins over West Indies, and in two intra-squad practice games this month she filled her boots again. “In the last two practice matches, she’s dominated the games. She can keep going for a lot longer,” Siddons noted.
From a team-building standpoint, her presence matters. Sri Lanka have a Women’s T20 World Cup in England this June, sandwiched between a three-ODI, three-T20I trip to Bangladesh and an Asian Games campaign. Siddons admits succession planning is part of the brief, but he would rather do it with his most experienced player still around. “That’s exactly why I’m here, I think,” he said when asked about life after Athapaththu. “To put together some plans where we can bring players in, teach them how the game is played.”
The Australian, who has worked with both men’s and women’s sides in previous roles, reckons there is already raw material to mould. “I’ve seen two very exciting young fast bowlers who are as good as anyone going around. They’ll be up for the fight.”
Why the change in tone? Siddons does not hide that Sri Lanka have been too conservative, especially in T20s. “I’m an international cricket coach first and foremost,” he pointed out. “My knowledge of the explosiveness required to win games – especially in T20s – will pass down to the girls’ format with ease. I’ve worked with the likes of Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr, I know what the standard looks like.”
The cornerstone of his plan is more boundary hitting. “We win in singles and twos, but we don’t score more boundaries than the opposition, and that’s why we lose against the best teams,” he said, cutting straight to the chase. “We can’t be safe. Our aim is to hit the ball harder and find the gaps. We have the hitters at the top, but the middle overs are where we must improve.”
Bowling, too, needs a refresh. “I think from the bowling perspective, we need to have some tricks. We can’t just turn up and bowl offspin, we need to have some different types of balls that we can bowl. Every fast bowler needs to have several slower balls so they can show those tricks, so the batters can’t just line us up. The best teams in the world hit a lot of boundaries, we need to minimise those boundaries.”
Those remarks are hardly revolutionary, but they underline how little margin exists at the elite level. England, Australia and India now clear the ropes almost at will; Sri Lanka, still searching for a first semi-final appearance in a global women’s event, must narrow that gap quickly.
Short-term, attention turns to Bangladesh later this month. The conditions in Dhaka and Chattogram could serve as a live rehearsal for England, given their tendency to grip and turn. Siddons plans to rotate his bowling options and offer fringe batters licence to attack from ball one. There is also talk of giving a debut to left-arm seamer Nimesha Gunaratne, one of those “exciting young fast bowlers” he referenced.
The bigger picture remains June’s World Cup opener at The Oval, likely against a top-ranked nation if seeding holds. Sri Lanka’s analysts believe a par score in early-summer England will hover around 150; last year they averaged 127. Bridging that 20-run gap is precisely what Siddons means by getting “more boundaries than the opposition”.
Athapaththu’s own strike rate – 134 in T20Is since the start of 2024 – is already in the required bracket. What she now needs is sustained support from the middle order. Vishmi Gunaratne, still only 20, and the experienced Hasini Perera have shown flashes. Consistency, though, has remained elusive.
A gentle reminder: this is not a one-woman show. Siddons, while praising Athapaththu, stressed collective accountability in nearly every answer. The mood in camp, those close to the set-up say, is cautiously optimistic rather than euphoric. That might be no bad thing. Sri Lankan cricket, women’s or men’s, has seen enough boom-and-bust cycles.
For now, the take-home message is simple: Athapaththu stays, the intent shifts up a gear, and everyone gets a chance to prove they can live with the world’s best. If it all clicks, Sri Lanka could be awkward customers in England. If not, at least the pathway for the next generation will be clearer than it has been for some time.
