Sri Lanka Women's coachRumeshRatnayakescribed his team's T20 sereis triumph over England as "really huge" for cricket in the country.
Sri Lanka blew their hosts away by seven and eight wickets respectively to come back from 1-0 down and hand England their first T20I series defeat by a side other than Australia since 2010.
It followed Sri Lanka's home 2-1 ODI victory against New Zealand in June and coincided with Pakistan 3-0 sweep of South Africa in their T20 series.
Given that Sri Lanka are ranked six places lower than England and Pakistan two spots behind South Africa in the format, the results have fuelled hopes that the gap between the top-ranked nations and the rest can be closed. Ratnayake's prediction that his side's victory will make people sit up and take notice in Sri Lanka can only help the cause.
"If I say it's huge, it's not good enough because it'll be really huge," he told ESPNcricinfo after Wednesday night's victory in the series decider in Derby, led by captainChamariAthapathu’s 3 for 21 and 44 off 28.
“It’s really huge because when we left Sri Lankan shores, they didn't think that we would do so well. Everybody thought maybe you might win one out of six. But I just told the girls that we are here not just to play and participate, we are here to win. I think it is going to be huge there. The awareness of girls playing and wanting to be people like Chamari and the likes would be huge."
Athapaththu had been instrumental in the win at Chelmsford also, her brutal half-century helping mow down another meagre target after England were bowled out inside 20 overs for the first of two successive games. Her scintillating form this year - she has two unbeaten centuries and four half-centuries across white-ball formats in 2023 - has only emphasisedAthapaththu's position as the lynchpin of her side, but Ratnayake was pleased that others had contributed to their latest victory too.
A fearless approach is precisely what Jon Lewis, England Women's head coach, asked of his players when he took charge last year. He even applied the philosophy to selection for Sri Lanka's visit, opting to rest some senior players to test younger, less experienced ones at international level.
Even after the loss to Sri Lanka, Lewis stood by the approach, saying it was about "trying to give people opportunities who've been sat on the edge of our squad or just outside our squad, to try and learn about what they're capable of under pressure".
While England will welcome back star allrounder Nat Sciver-Brunt and opener Tammy Beaumont for the three-match ODI leg starting in Durham on Saturday, that series could hinge somewhat on whose courage wavers first.
