5th Blind Cricket World cup kicked off in Dubai on the 8th of January. Sri Lanka faced Australia in their first match of the tournament and they cruised to a massive 303 run victory over the Kangaroos.
It was a delayed start in Dubai due to adverse weather and the match was reduced to 35 over per side. After winning the toss, Lankan skipper Chandana Deshapriya elected to take first lease of the wicket. Sri Lanka showed intent from the word go as they started off their innings in a blistering manner. Left handed bat Suranga Sampath was the star with the bat early on. His innings of 130 came off just 85 balls and included 12 boundaries.
He found good support on the other end from Ruwan Wasantha who matched his partner stoke by stroke to score 111 runs. Sri Lanka posted a mammoth 485 for 7 in their allocated 35 overs. For the Kangaroos, Daniel picked up 2 wickets.
With a daunting task ahead of them, the Australians came out to bat with their backs against the wall. They never looked like they were going to get anywhere near the target. The only resistance came from Stephan Plummer who scored a quick fire 49. Right arm medium pacer, Upul Sanjeewa was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka with 3 wickets as the Kangaroos got cleaned up for 182 runs. Sri Lanka will face India today in their 2nd match of the tournament.
Sri Lanka 485/7 (35) Suranga Sampath 130, Ruwan Wasantha 111, Daniel 2/95
Australia 182/10 (29.4) Stephan Plummer 49, Upul Sanjeewa 3/31
Sri Lanka Skipper Chandana Deshapriya speaking to ThePapare.com:
“Very happy because we managed win the match with a big margin of runs. Credit to Suranga and Wasantha for taking us to the huge total. Next match will be tomorrow against India and we hope to do well and win the match for Sri Lanka”
