Record-breaking Sangakkara leads rout of Scotland

Record-breaking Sangakkara leads rout of Scotland
Sangakkara first to score four consecutive World Cup centuries

From 24/7 Agencies

Kumar Sangakkara became the first batsman to score four consecutive one-day centuries as Sri Lanka thrashed Scotland by 148 runs in the World Cup in Hobart on Wednesday.

The left-hander hit 124 off 95 balls and Tillakaratne Dilshan made 104 as the Islanders piled up 363 for nine and then bowled Scotland out for 215 in 43.1 overs in the Pool A match at the Bellerive Oval.

Skipper Preston Mommsen (60) and Freddie Coleman (70) put on 118 for the fourth wicket but they provided the only Scottish challenge as seamers Nuwan Kulasekara and Dushmantha Chameera grabbed three wickets each.

Sangakkara also took two catches to overtake Adam Gilchrist as the most successful World Cup wicket-keeper with 54 dismissals. The Australian had 52 victims to his name.

Sri Lanka ended the league with four wins from six matches and now await an undecided opponent in the first quarter-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground on March 18.

Scotland's fifth successive defeat means they will take an early flight home after their final league match against Australia at the same venue on Saturday.

Sangakkara, 37, who will retire from one-day cricket after the World Cup, had made 105 not out against Bangladesh, an unbeaten 117 against England and 104 against Australia.

He is the the leading scorer in the ongoing tournament with 496 runs from six games, followed in second place by 38-year-old Dilshan with 395 runs.

The pair put on 195 for the second wicket after Lahiru Thirimanne had been snapped up in the slips off Alasdair Evans in the sixth over after Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.

Scotland had to wait till the 35th over for their next success as Sangakkara and Dilshan toyed with the bowling in good batting conditions.

Both batsmen reached their centuries off successive balls from Kyle Coetzer in the 34th over, Dilshan taking a single to record his second hundred in the tournament before Sangakkara followed next ball with two runs.

Sangakkara leapfrogged six players who had scored three ODI centuries in a row - Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar of Pakistan, the South African trio of Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock, and Ross Taylor of New Zealand.

Dilshan followed his unbeaten 161 against Bangladesh with his fourth World Cup century before he holed out in the deep off seamer Josh Davey.

Davey struck two quick blows soon after, getting rid of Mahela Jayawardene and Sangakkara off successive balls as Sri Lanka slipped from 216 for one to 244 for four.

Jayawardene, 37, who will also retire after the World Cup having already quit Test cricket, made two when he was caught at mid-off by Calum MacLeod.

Sangakkara edged the next delivery to the wicket-keeper, sparking wild celebrations among the Scottish supporters in the stands.

Skipper Angelo Mathews smashed 51 off 21 balls at the end, slamming four sixes in a row off spinner Matt Machan before being caught next ball on the mid-wicket fence.

Sri Lanka, who were 216 for one at one stage, lost eight wickets for 147 runs as the later batsmen attacked the inexperienced Scotland attack.

Sri Lanka go into the knock-out rounds beset with injuries, with seamer Dhammika Prasad ruled out of the tournament before it started and Jeevan Mendis, Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal sidelined during it.

Veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath is yet to recover from a finger injury.

Scoreboard:

Sri Lanka:

L. Thirimanne c Mommsen b Evans 4
T. Dilshan c MacLeod b Davey 104
K. Sangakkara c Cross b Davey 124
M. Jayawardene c MacLeod b Davey 2
A. Mathews c Coleman b Machan 51
K. Perera c MacLeod b Taylor 24
T. Perera c Coleman b Berrington 7
S. Prasanna c Coleman b Evans 3
N. Kulasekara not out 18
L. Malinga c Leask b Berrington 1
D. Chameera not out 12
Extras: (lb3, w10) 13
Total (for 9 wkts, 50 overs) 363
Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Thirimanne), 2-216 (Dilshan), 3-244 (Jayawardene), 4-244 (Sangakkara), 5-289 (K. Perera), 6-326 (Mathews), 7-328 (T. Perera), 8-331 (Prasanna), 9-336 (Malinga).
Bowling: Taylor 10-0-46-1, Evans 10-0-72-2 (w3), Davey 8-0-63-3 (w5), Berrington 6.1-31-2, Leask 7-0-63-0, Coetzer 4.5-0-39-0, Machan 4-0-46-1 (w1).

Scotland:

K. Coetzer c and b Malinga 0
C. MacLeod b Kulasekara 11
M. Machan lbw b Dilshan 19
P. Mommsen c Thirimanne b T. Perera 60
F. Coleman c T. Perera b Kulasekara 70
R. Berrington c Kulasekara b Chameera 29
M. Leask c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 2
M. Cross c Sangakkara b Chameera 7
R. Taylor c T. Perera b Malinga 3
J. Davey c Thirimanne b Chameera 4
A. Evans not out 1
Extras: (lb2, w6, nb1) 9
Total (all out, 43.1 overs) 215
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Coetzer), 2-26 (MacLeod), 3-44 (Machan), 4-162 (Mommsen), 5-189 (Coleman), 6-192 (Leask), 7-200 (Cross), 8-209 (Taylor), 9-210 (Berrington), 10-215 (Davey).
Bowling: Malinga 9-0-29-2 (w2), Kulasekara 7-0-20-3 (w1), T. Perera 7-0-41-1 (w2), Dilshan 5-0-15-1, Prasanna 8-0-57-0, Chameera 7.1-0-51-3 (nb1, w1)

Sri Lanka won by 148 runs
Toss: Sri Lanka
Umpires: Richard Illingworth (ENG), Joel Wilson (WIS)
TV umpire: Michael Gough (ENG)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

Preview

Sri Lanka will look to tie up some loose ends ahead of the World Cup quarter-finals when the former champions take on winless minnows Scotland in their last group match in Hobart on Wednesday.

The Islanders, who have won three of their five matches, will likely take third place in Pool A behind co-hosts New Zealand and Australia should they win at the at the Bellerive Oval.

Angelo Mathews' side return to action just three days after going down to Australia by 64 runs in Sydney despite a heroic run chase led by remarkable veteran Kumar Sangakkara.

The 37-year-old left-hander smashed 104 to become the only batsman to score three successive centuries in a World Cup and is the leading run-scorer in this edition with 372 runs at an average of 124.

Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan, 38, is fifth in the list with 291 runs, but former skipper Mahela Jayawardene's lean patch on either side of a match-winning century against Afghanistan will be worrying.

Jayawardene, 37, fell for zero in the tournament opener against New Zealand, did not get to bat against Bangladesh and England, before being run out for 19 against Australia.

Sri Lanka will need the three senior pros to fire if they are to repeat their 1996 triumph after losing the last two World Cup finals in 2007 and 2011.

The batsmen have so far made up for a wayward bowling attack which has leaked runs in the final overs to allow rivals to plunder big totals.

New Zealand took 134 runs from the last 14 overs, England garnered 148 from 15 and Australia smashed 200 in the last 16 overs.

"We have got to improve our bowling and fielding," said Mathews. "If we can keep the opposition to 300, we can chase it down."

Sri Lanka, who have already seen all-rounder Jeevan Mendis and batsman Dimuth Karunaratne depart from the tournament due to injuries, suffered another blow on Tuesday when Dinesh Chandimal was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Chandimal retired hurt after making a 24-ball 52 against Australia and has been replaced by left-hand batsman Kusal Perera, who has played 41 one-day internationals and scored 839 runs with one century.

With a week to go before the quarter-finals, Sri Lanka may look to rest tired limbs and test their bench strength against Scotland, who are lying at the bottom of the group with five defeats from as many matches.

Sri Lanka have played the non-Test side just once in a one-day international, winning easily by 183 runs in Edinburgh in July 2011, and another one-sided game appears likely.
Statistics reveal the wide gulf between the two sides.

The combined ODI appearance total of the entire Scotland squad is 332 - 114 fewer matches than Jayawardene's 446 ODIS, 70 below Sangakkara's 402 and just 20 more than Dilshan's 312.

Scotland have yet to win a match in three World Cups, and with the International Cricket Council planning to reduce the number of teams involved from 14 to 10 in 2019, Wednesday's fixture could be their last in the showpiece event.

Squads and officials:

Scotland (from): Preston Mommsen (capt), Kyle Coetzer, Richie Berrington, Freddie Coleman, Matthew Cross (wkt), Josh Davey, Alasdair Evans, Hamish Gardiner, Majid Haq, Michael Leask, Matt Machan, Calum MacLeod, Safyaan Sharif, Rob Taylor, Iain Wardlaw

Sri Lanka (from): Angelo Mathews (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wkt), Mahela Jayawardene, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachithra Senanayake, Dushmantha Chameera, Upul Tharanga, Seekkuge Prasanna, Rangana Herath.

Umpires: Richard Illingworth (ENG), Joel Wilson (WIS)
TV umpire: Michael Gough (ENG)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)
Weather forecast: Partly cloudly. Maximum temperature of 23 Celsius.

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