The 34 year old has extended her contract which runs for another two seasons and her army of fans are only set to grow if she can keep performing on the biggest stage.
Chamari Athapaththu loves the fact she can play cricket in Australia in an environment she says feels like a home away from home.
The reason for that is down to Australia’s Sri Lankan community which has embraced her warmly and supported her strongly for the past two seasons.
And that’s one of the main reasons she extended her deal with the Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash League.
“I’m really happy to be a part of this emerging team, its a really good bunch of players and the support staff help me alot. So I’m more than happy, I’m enjoying my time in Sydney with Sydney Thunder. This is my second year withnder so I signed for another two years with Thunder so yes I’m happy this is my second family.”
Ms Athapaththu’s Sri Lankan supporters organise themselves to sit in the same part of the ground at Thunder matches so they can get behind their hero and the team. And that’s not only good news for her.
“So they organise a really nice bay for me so a special thing for me, is alot of Sri Lankans coming watching my games cheering for me, not only me but the whole team which is good for me and my team. “
The Thunder has also reached out to the multicultural community in Western Sydney, hosting several cricket themed community festivals in recent years.
The club’s South Asian fan base has been made a priority and they’re encouraged to feel part of the club’s journey.
Thunder coach Lisa Keightly says the club’s multicultural fan base is one of the reasons players like Athpaththu are happy to sign long term contracts.
“She loves playing for the Thunder with our diverse community that we have who follow us, so she’s a great player for us and we’re keen that we’ve got her here at the Thunder.”
Last season Athpaththu won the player of the WBBL tournament award, and although her statistics haven’t been as impressive this season, Keightly says she contributes in other important ways.
“In the nets, you know our young spinners are talking to her asking her you know what’s hard, what do you find easy, where should I bowl on this surface? All those conversations are happening. She’s probably one that sits back a little bit and wants them to come to her and we’ve encouraged our young players and even our established players to have those conversations to get as much knowledge as they can and they continue to share information with some of our overseas players.”
Athapaththu’s captaincy of Sri Lanka is something that gives her great pride. And she’s been encouraged by her countries’ performance this year which included a first ever Asian Cup title clinched against India in the final when she contributed 61 valuable runs in the victory.
She was awarded the player of the tournament title for her performances.
Despite not winning the T20 World Cup in the UAE this year, there were other highlights including two good wins away from home.
“We’ve played some really good cricket against England we beat England on their home soil, we beat South Africa in South Africa, so we’ve done really good cricket but not in world cup. So I hope we can continue our best performance next season as well.”
Athapaththu was six years old when the Sri Lankan men’s team won the one day world cup in 1996. It was a victory that put the country, in cricketing terms at least, firmly on the world stage.
And it was also that victory that inspired her love of cricket and her desire to play the game.
She says winning another world cup for her country with the women’s team would be a special moment.
“That is the turning point for Sri Lankan cricket, actually that’s why I started playing cricket, so I want to achieve that goal, yes its the biggest goal, we have to work so hard, so yeah I hope we can do that for my country hopefully.”
The women’s one-day World Cup takes place in September in India next year.
But whatever happens to Sri Lanka, her fans in Australia will be able to witness one of the sport’s biggest stars for another two WBBL seasons at least.
