Perth: Sophie Devine once again proved unstoppable as her sixth consecutive 50+ score steered New Zealand to victory in their ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 opener against Sri Lanka.
Chamari Atapattu (41) and Hasini Perera's 60-run first wicket - Sri Lanka's best opening partnership in T20Is - gave them a bright start but Hayley Jensen's career-best bowling sent middle-order wickets tumbling at the WACA.
It took time for New Zealand to get the 128-run chase going but captain Devine led by example, becoming the only player, male or female, to register more than five consecutive 50+ scores in the format, en route to the seven-wicket victory.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 127/7 in 20 overs (Chamari Atapattu 41, Harshitha Madavi 27 Hayley Jensen 3/16) vs New Zealand 131/3 in 17.4 overs (Sophie Devine 75 n.o., Maddy Green 29; Kavisha Dilhari 1-19). IANS