The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Ireland makes Sri Lanka sweat

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Wednesday, Apr 26, 2006

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Ireland makes Sri Lanka sweat

Vijay Lokapally

ABU DHABI: John Mooney created grave turbulence in the Sri Lankan dressing room even as a mild dust storm enveloped the scenic Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Monday.

The Sri Lankan camp suffered the unexpected jolts before the team drew on its batting depth to stage a recovery and win the BSL EurAsia Cup cricket match by 87 runs.

The medium-pacer rocked Sri Lanka `A' with an incisive four-wicket spell that did Ireland proud but the effort was difficult to sustain. From a precarious 75 for five, Sri Lanka recovered to set Ireland a target of 261.

The result was a foregone conclusion since Ireland did not possess the batting talent to stand up to the Lankan guiles.

The strong winds gave teeth to Mooney's probing line and left Sri Lanka reeling in the afternoon. Mooney used his wrist to deadly effect and left Sri Lanka in a state of embarrassment that was arrested only by some disciplined performance by Chamara Silva (37, 4x4), Jeevantha Kulatunga (42, 6x4, 1x6), Upul Chandana (46, 3x4) and Sajeewa Weerakoon (53, with 4x4, 1x6).

The top half of the Sri Lankan paid the penalty for poor shot selection but the trend was arrested by Chamara, who dominated the strike during the crisis period and later allowed Kulatunga to have his way.

The scores:

Sri Lanka: A. Gunawardane b Mooney 5, I. Daniel b Mooney 6, M. Warnapura c Wilson b Mooney 12, K. Silva (run out) 7, C. Silva c Wilson b Mooney 37, G. Wijekoon lbw b Fourie 8, J. Kulatunga b Kidd 42, U. Chandana (not out) 46, S. Weerakoon (not out) 53; Extras (b-1, lb-12, nb-7, w-25) 45. Total (for seven wkts in 50 overs): 261.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-39, 3-46, 4-65, 5-75, 6-145, 7-154.

Ireland bowling: Rankid 5-0-27-0, Mooney 10-2-43-4, Fourie 10-0-53-1, Armstrong 5-0-33-0, G. Kidd 10-0-30-1, Britton 10-0-62-0.

Ireland: J. Moling c & b Ganegama 10, C. Armstrong (run out) 7, W. Porterfield lbw b Chandana 62, G. Wilson lbw b Weerakoon 10, T. Fourie lbw b Weerakoon 30, M. Hutchinson (run out) 1, J. Mooney c Weerakoon b Warnapura 11, K. Carroll (run out) 11, G. Kidd b Prasad 0, T. Britton (not out) 2, B. Rankin b Prasad 0; Extras (b-1, lb-6, nb-1, w-12): 30. Total (in 43 overs): 174.

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-26, 3-43, 4-123, 5-126, 6-140, 7-170, 8-172, 9-174.

Sri Lanka bowling: Ganegama 7-0-32-1, Wijekoon 6-2-15-0, Prasad 5-1-26-2, Weerakoon 7-3-18-2, Warnapura 10-1-40-1, Chandana 8-0-36-1.

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