One match after being humiliated by Thailand, USA produced a resilient effort against Test nation Sri Lanka, yet it still wasn't enough as they fell short by 18 runs to go home winless from their 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier tour of the UAE. 

Photo credit: Francois Nel/ICC/Getty Images

By Peter Della Penna in Abu Dhabi (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
USA Women saved their best performance of the tournament for last at the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE, but their efforts still fell short as Sri Lanka’s experience as a Full Member squad saw them outlast USA by 18 runs in the final match of Group A at Tolerance Oval on Friday night. USA held Sri Lanka to 123 for 4 in their 20 overs, but recurring troubles in the Powerplay doomed any chance of springing an upset as they crawled to 22 for 1 in the first six overs of their reply before eventually finishing on 105 for 6. 
 

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first, deciding to rest four players from a side that beat Uganda on Wednesday to clinch a berth in the tournament semi-finals. USA made two changes from the starting lineup that was bowled out by Thailand for 54 two nights earlier as Ritu Singh and Suhani Thadani were left out to make room for Sai Eyyunni’s first appearance of the tournament as well as a T20I debut cap for fellow Texas teenager Pooja Shah. 
 
USA’s hopes of springing a colossal upset were given a major boost in the opening over of play when Geetika Kodali bowled Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu by sneaking a good length ball through a slight gap between bat and pad that caromed off an inside edge onto the stumps for 4. After Sri Lanka slowly rebuilt their innings behind Vishmi Gunaratne and Harshitha Samarawickrama with a 49-run stand, teenage legspinner Saanvi Immadi trapped former Sri Lanka U19 captain Gunaratne playing down the wrong line of a fuller delivery to win an lbw appeal for 25 making it 55 for 2 after nine overs. USA was on a team hat-trick when Aditi Chudasama struck on the first ball of the 10^th to get Samarawickrama for 23 as the veteran left-hander chased a teasing delivery wide outside off for an edge behind. 
 
Nilakshi de Silva and Hansima Karunaratne then steadied Sri Lanka with a 43-run partnership that took the tournament favorites through to the end of the 17^th over when Shah intervened with a terrific effort charging in from deep midwicket to relay over the stumps to Kodali at the bowler’s end. Karunaratne turned back de Silva’s attempt at a second run and the latter wound up being run out for 21. It was USA’s first runout at the tournament in their previous nine matches, a streak dating back to a win against Namibia in the loser’s bracket playoff at Scotland in 2019. 
 
But Sri Lanka still managed to scramble 21 runs off the final two overs to get to a defendable total. As much as USA’s bowlers worked hard to build pressure, their fielders let them down at times with numerous misfields leading to extra runs in addition to two missed chances. De Silva should have been runout on 7 to start the 13^th over but a throw from Chudasama went well wide of the non-striker’s stumps. Anushka Sanjeewani offered a life on 5 in the 19^th over off Kodali, who induced a drive straight to Disha Dhingra at long-off but the chance was shelled and went over the rope for a one-bounce four as Sanjeewani finished with 15 not out off 10 balls. Karunaratne ended unbeaten on 25 off 26. 
 
Immadi finished with figures of 1 for 14 in four overs while fellow teenage spinner Chudasama claimed 1 for 22 in four. Kodali bowled far better than her final figures of 1 for 29 in four overs as USA’s fielding lapses impacted her the most. Isani Vaghela returned 0 for 20 in three overs while Jessica Willathgamuwa finished with 0 for 22 in four. Eyyunni struggled for control in her solitary over bowled in the 12^th, conceding two boundaries as well as overstepping for a no ball in the process of finishing with 0 for 11. 
 
After the opening pair of Dhingra and Anika Kolan inched their way to 10 runs in the first four overs, including a dropped chance off Kolan by Udeshika Prabhodani when the USA vice-captain was on 5, Kolan finally fell in the fifth to Athapaththu, driving a soft catch to mid-off for 9 to make it 11 for 1. 
 
USA captain Sindhu Sriharsha joined Dhingra and the pair constructed USA’s highest partnership of the tournament, teaming to add 52 runs for the second wicket. The high point was a 10-run over immediately after drinks to take USA to 52 for 1 as both players reached the boundary off Achini Kulasuriya. But the stand came to an end in the 13^th. One ball after Dhingra charged down the wicket to loft left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera over mid-off for a boundary, she tried to repeat the shot only for Ranaweera to drag the length back resulting in a checked punch by Dhingra that floated gently to Sugandika Kumari at extra cover for 28. Sriharsha fell in the next over to a superb catch by de Silva haring in from deep midwicket to hold onto a sliding effort for 27 giving Athapaththu her second wicket. Chudasama was then runout for in the 14^th after a mixup with Pooja Ganesh left the score at 68 for 4, completing a slide of 3 wickets for 5 runs that effectively killed off USA’s hopes of an unlikely win. 
 
Ganesh made 7 before she tried to walk across her stumps to sweep Prabhodani into the leg side but wound up being bowled behind her legs. Vaghela then heaved the final ball of the match out to deep midwicket for another sharp take by de Silva as she teamed up with Athapaththu for the second time completing a wicket. It resulted in final figures of 3 for 14 for Athapaththu and with Sriharsha being one of those it made her a simple choice for Player of the Match. 
 
Prabhodani ended with 1 for 13 in her four overs while Ranaweera, Sri Lanka’s all-time leading wicket-taker in Women’s T20Is, claimed 1 for 20 in three overs. Kumari, Kulasuriya ad left-arm wrist spinner Shashini Gimhani all went wicketless. 
 
SrI Lanka will now face UAE in the tournament semi-finals after the host nation finished second in Group B following a heavy win over Vanuatu by 70 runs on Friday. That, combined with Ireland’s 54-run win over the Netherlands, was enough of a margin differential to put UAE past Netherlands on net run rate with both teams ending equal on four points. UAE also got a significant boost from their head-to-head win over the Netherlands earlier in group play, winning by 10 wickets after chasing a target of 102 with 8.1 overs to spare. 
 
In the day’s other match in Group A, Scotland cruised past a target of 100 with 13 balls to spare to win by six wickets over Thailand. Kathryn Bryce was named Player of the Match after scoring an unbeaten half-century while Thailand struggled after choosing to bat first in the absence of star opening batter Natthakan Chantham, who sustained a left knee injury in the field against USA. Scotland’s win meant they finished second in Group A behind Sri Lanka and will now face Ireland in the other tournament semi-final on Sunday. The winners of both semi-finals will advance to the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.