Nicky Shaw
Ex-England all-rounder on BBC Test Match Special

Atapattu looks a different player when she's hitting the ball down the ground.

Sri Lanka going along very, very nicely.

New Zealand have the chance to put some fielders back now - but there's no stopping Atapattu as she blasts Kasperek for a first-bounce four over the bowler's head.

Nicky Shaw
Ex-England all-rounder on BBC Test Match Special

That was a cracking shot. The guy who missed it in the crowd needs to lift his game.

SL 51-0published at 6 overs

6 overs

Perera 17, Atapattu 21

Devine's back, taking captain's responsiblility for the final powerplay over. She so nearly makes the breakthrough as Atapattu swings but fails to connect, the ball sails past leg stump and Priest can only get a hand on it as they run a couple of byes. And Atapattu cashes in again, lofting the final ball of the powerplay over cover for the first six of the game! A great way to bring up the half-century.

Rachel Priest may be the first-choice keeper for the Religious XI (keeping to Ian Bishop among others), but her glovework has left a little to be desired early on here. And she's not the only keeper in this NZ team.

Nicky Shaw
Ex-England all-rounder on BBC Test Match Special

Atapattu is targeting mid-wicket and long-on, but I'm not sure she needs to do that. She can afford to sit in and wait for the right ball.

Perera goes for the Dilscoop again - it flies off the edge rather than the middle of her unsponsored bat, but it's another four. A big innings here, and her bat may not be unsponsored for long. Great start by Sri Lanka, better than many of us were expecting.

Snehal Pradhan
Ex-India seamer on BBC Test Match Special

Rachel Priest wasn't in the squad for the last T20 World Cup. Her fitness wasn't considered good enough.

Scotland-born off-spinner Leigh Kasperek into the attack as New Zealand look to stem this flow of boundaries - but Atapattu gets down on one knee and whacks her first ball through cover for four.

Take a look at that dropped catch from the first over...

It doesn't get better for New Zealand - Kerr fires one down the leg side, Rachel Priest up to the stumps doesn't really have much chance of grabbing it, and five wides are added to the total.

Perera then swings and misses, Priest misses it and it's a very unholy four byes. So three boundaries in the over, but only one from the bat.

Snehal Pradhan
Ex-India seamer on BBC Test Match Special

We've seen pace and bounce, and the ability of both batters to negotiate that pace and bounce.

We have two sisters in the New Zealand XI today - and it's the right-arm medium-pacer Jess Kerr, rather than the leg-spinning Amelia, brought into the attack. But Perera is up for this - pulling out a Dilscoop, as popularised in the men's edition of this competition in England in 2009 by her compatriot Tillakaratne Dilshan, for a four over the wicketkeeper's head!

Amy Lofthouse
BBC Sport at the Waca

I’ve moved to the stands for this one - it’s a sparse crowd but the fans that are in are very, very pro-Sri Lanka.

Image source, BBC Sport

Hello... Tahuhu gives Atapattu a bit too much width and she flashes another four over point. Such an important wicket for New Zealand if they can remove her before she really gets going.

Tahuhu is rather harshly charged with a wide by umpire Ahsan Raza, but she has Atapattu playing and missing at the last ball.

Snehal Pradhan
Ex-India seamer on BBC Test Match Special

This is excellent from Perera. She is showing intent, staying in her crease and allowing the ball to come to her.

Captain Sophie Devine takes the second over. She would have been one of those kids at school who was good enough to open the batting and the bowling.

She strays with a wide, but Perera then hooks a two down to long leg - where, inexplicably, there's another ball that has been left inside the boundary. Possibly from the warm-up. But Atapattu is up and running, using the pace on the ball to flick a four through mid-wicket off her legs.

Atapattu survives the rest of the over.

Snehal Pradhan
Ex-India seamer on BBC Test Match Special

Perera was trying to use the pace, but she wasn't in control.

Perera dropped on twopublished at 0.4 overs

0.4 overs

SL 3-0

Captain Chamari Atapattu lets her opening partner Hasini Perera take strike - she edges the third ball of the innings for two down to third man - then is dropped next ball as Maddy Green almost takes a spectacular one-handed catch at backward point, but can't hold on. Would have been an absolute worldie.