The Hindu : Sport : Sri Lanka makes mincemeat of Canada

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Sri Lanka makes mincemeat of Canada

R.K. Radhakrishnan

The North Americans hold their own until Jayawardene and Sangakkara take control

SOORIYAWEWA (HAMBANTOTA): Sri Lanka, aided by a quick-fire century by Mahela Jayawardene and his big partnership with captain Kumar Sangakkara, beat Canada comprehensively on Sunday to begin its World Cup campaign.

In chasing 333 for a win, Canada struggled against both the Sri Lankan opening bowlers and ended up meek loser. The Canadian 50 came in 122 deliveries, and the 100 off 186 deliveries. The innings folded up for 122 in 36.5 overs.

Sangakkara equalled the ICC World Cup record for the maximum number of stumpings. He now shares the spot with Adam Gilchrist and Moin Khan with seven stumpings each.

Rizwan Cheema (37 off 35 balls) proved the lone bright spot, scoring freely and hitting neatly.

He took on the world's best spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, hitting him for a six and a four in one over — and carting another six in the next over. However, Muralitharan had the last laugh when he had Cheema caught at backward point.

Showing fight

After Sri Lanka elected to bat on a hot, humid day, Canada opened its attack with right-arm fast medium pacer Khurram Chohan and the Uganda-born fast medium bowler Henry Osinde. The latter limped off the field after bowling 2.1 overs and was replaced by fellow medium pacer Harvir Baidwan.

The first part of the game went largely according to the Canadian script, with Tharanga and Dilshan playing cautiously.

Sri Lanka's first 50 came in 9.3 overs, and the 100 took 21.4 overs.

Tharanga was the first to go, driving Baidwan to mid-off and taking off for a non-existent single. Wicket-keeper Ashish Bagai caught Tharanga well short of his crease and he walked without waiting for the verdict of the third umpire. Dilshan, who completed 5,000 ODI runs in the course of this innings, reached his 50 off 58 deliveries, with eight hits to the fence.

He departed soon, holing out to John Davison, who ran in from a sweeper cover position to complete a relatively simple catch.

Then, the capacity crowd at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket stadium saw Sangakkara and Jayawardene come good.

The first six of the innings came only in the 25th over when Jayawardene lifted Jimmy Hansra over widish long-on.

Some sensible running punctuated with the occasional boundary kept the scorers busy.

Davison's right-arm spin was introduced in the 29th over in a bid to stem the flow of runs, but there was no respite as Jayawardene reverse swept and paddle swept off successive balls to reach his 55th half century, off 40 balls. Sangakkara reached his 50 off 61 balls.

Unstoppable

Captain Bagai tried seven bowlers but Jayawardene was unstoppable — hitting over the infield when the fielders were brought up, driving rocket straight, or placing it defty just from where a fielder was moved. Sangakkara made 92 before eventually offering a return catch to Davison.

Jayawardene went on to score 100 off 80 balls — the fastest Sri Lankan World Cup century beating Sanath Jayasurya's record.

Jayawardene was out soon after Sangakkara, caught at short fine leg off Davison, for a well-made century.

After sending back Jayawardene and Sangakkara who had put on 179 for the third wicket, Canada got rid of Thissara Perera pretty quickly. But the success came a tad too late.

Sri Lanka ended up with 332 for the loss of seven wickets at the end of its 50 overs.

Sri Lanka: U. Tharanga (run out) 19 ( 31b, 1x4), T. Dilshan c Davison b Cheema 50 ( 59b, 8x4), K. Sangakkara c & b Davison 92 ( 87b, 7x4, 1x6), M. Jayawardene c Rao b Davison 100 ( 81b, 9x4, 1x6), T. Perera (run out) 11 ( 11b, 1x4), A. Mathews c & b Baidwan 21 ( 16b, 3x4), C. Kapugedera c sub (Kumar) b Baidwan 2 ( 3b), T. Samaraweera (not out) 18 ( 10b, 3x4), N. Kulasekara (not out) 7 ( 3b, 1x4); Extras (lb-3, nb-1, w-8) 12; Total (for seven wkts. in 50 overs): 332.

Fall of wickets: 1-63, 2-88, 3-267, 4-276, 5-284, 6-295, 7-314.

Canada bowling: Chohan 8-0-62-0, Osinde 2.1-0-10-0, Baidwan 8.5-0-59-2, Hansra 9-0-47-0, Cheema 7-0-47-1, Rao 7-0-48-0, Davison 8-0-56-2.

Canada: R. Gunasekera c Dilshan b Kulasekara 1 ( 10b), J. Davison b Perera 0 ( 1b), Z. Surkari lbw b Perera 6 ( 10b), J. Hansra st. Sangakkara b Samaraweera 9 ( 49b), A. Bagai c Sangakkara b Perera 22 ( 47b, 2x4), R. Cheema c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 37 ( 35b, 4x4, 2x6), T. Gordon c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 4 ( 10b), K. Chohan c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 4 ( 8b, 1x4), H. Baidwan (not out) 16 ( 35b, 1x4), W.D. Balaji Rao c Tharanga b Muralitharan 6 ( 7b, 1x4), H. Osinde b Mendis 4 ( 10b); Extras (lb-8, w-4, nb-1) 13; Total (in 36.5 overs): 122.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-8, 3-12, 4-42, 5-53, 6-68, 7-74, 8-103, 9-111.

Sri Lanka bowling: Kulasekara 6-2-16-3, Perera 7-0-24-3, Mendis 7.5-3-18-1, Muralitharan 9-0-38-2, Dilshan 5-0-14-0, Samaraweera 2-0-4-1 .

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