Sri Lanka continued their winning streak in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier as they recorded their fourth successive win in the tournament, defeating Scotland by 82 runs today (27th June) at Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo.
Scotland Skipper Richie Berrington won the toss and opted to bowl first. Sri Lanka once again came into this encounter with an unchanged side, while Scotland made two changes, bringing in Jack Jarvis and Alasdair Evans to their playing XI.
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis(w), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha
Scotland (Playing XI): Christopher McBride, Matthew Cross(w), Brandon McMullen, Richie Berrington(c), Tomas Mackintosh, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Chris Sole, Jack Jarvis, Alasdair Evans
Sri Lanka got off to a shaky start, losing two top order wickets, including the in-form batter Karunaratne, inside the first 10 overs.
However, Nissanka batted well at one end and had partnerships with Samarawickrama and Asalanka to revive Sri Lanka’s innings. Nissanka (75) and Asalanka (63) chipped in with crucial half-centuries in Sri Lanka’s rescue act.
But once they were dismissed, Scotland bowlers Greaves and Watt got their acts together to remove the tail and restricted Sri Lanka to 245. Greaves was the pick of the bowlers for Scotland as he picked up 4 wickets for 32 runs, while Watt contributed with a 3-wicket haul.
Chasing 246 runs to win, Scotland got off to a poor start as they lost 3 top order wickets inside the first 10 overs.
Sri Lanka’s main spinners Hasaranga and Theekshana bowled brilliantly to break the back of the Scottish middle-order, putting them onto the backfoot.
The seamers Kumara, Rajitha and Shanaka also joined the party, picking up a wicket each as Sri Lanka restricted Scotland to 163, snatching their fourth consecutive win in the tournament.
Sri Lanka would have been under pressure after being bowled out for 245, but they roared back in style with the ball. With this win, Sri Lanka will go into the Super Six stage of the tournament by topping the Group with 4 points.
Super Six Points Table
| Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Points | NRR |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | +2.70 |
| Zimbabwe | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | +0.98 |
| Scotland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -0.06 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -0.74 |
| West Indies | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -0.35 |
| Oman | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -3.04 |
Sri Lanka will take on Netherlands in their first game of the Super Six stage on Friday (30th June) at the same Ground.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Tomas Mackintosh, b Mark Watt | 75 | 85 | 10 | 0 | 88.24 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | b Chris Sole | 7 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 77.78 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Michael Leask b Chris Sole | 1 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 6.25 |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | c Michael Leask b Alasdair Evans | 26 | 35 | 4 | 0 | 74.29 |
| Charith Asalanka | c Matthew Cross b Mark Watt | 63 | 65 | 4 | 2 | 96.92 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | b Chris Greaves | 23 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 74.19 |
| Dasun Shanaka | c Chris Sole b Chris Greaves | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | c Chris Sole b Chris Greaves | 15 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 125.00 |
| Mahesh Theekshana | not out | 16 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 76.19 |
| Kasun Rajitha | lbw b Mark Watt | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
| Lahiru Kumara | c & b | 5 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 29.41 |
| Extras | 13 (b 0 , lb 3 , nb 1, w 9, pen 0) |
| Total | 245/10 (49.3 Overs, RR: 4.95) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-34 (4.2) Dimuth Karunaratne, 2-43 (8.4) Kusal Mendis, 3-98 (19.2) Sadeera Samarawickrama, 4-142 (28.2) Pathum Nissanka, 5-203 (39.2) Dhananjaya de Silva, 6-203 (39.3) Dasun Shanaka, 7-207 (40.4) Charith Asalanka, 8-223 (43.1) Wanindu Hasaranga, 9-228 (44.4) Kasun Rajitha, 10-245 (49.3) Lahiru Kumara, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Sole | 10 | 1 | 46 | 2 | 4.60 | |
| Brandon McMullen | 5 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 3.80 | |
| Jack Jarvis | 3 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 5.00 | |
| Alasdair Evans | 7 | 0 | 35 | 1 | 5.00 | |
| Christopher McBride | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 6.50 | |
| Mark Watt | 10 | 0 | 52 | 3 | 5.20 | |
| Michael Leask | 6 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 5.00 | |
| Chris Greaves | 6.3 | 0 | 32 | 4 | 5.08 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher McBride | c Dasun Shanaka b Wanindu Hasaranga | 29 | 38 | 2 | 1 | 76.32 |
| Matthew Cross | b Lahiru Kumara | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 175.00 |
| Brandon McMullen | b Mahesh Theekshana | 5 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 45.45 |
| Richie Berrington | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Mahesh Theekshana | 10 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Tomas Mackintosh, | lbw b Kasun Rajitha | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 37.50 |
| Michael Leask | lbw b Dasun Shanaka | 5 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 41.67 |
| Chris Greaves | not out | 56 | 41 | 7 | 2 | 136.59 |
| Mark Watt | lbw b Wanindu Hasaranga | 14 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 82.35 |
| Jack Jarvis | lbw b Mahesh Theekshana | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Chris Sole | run out (Lahiru Kumara) | 17 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 80.95 |
| Alasdair Evans | run out (Kusal Mendis) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 17 (b 0 , lb 7 , nb 0, w 10, pen 0) |
| Total | 163/10 (29 Overs, RR: 5.62) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-14 (1.4) Matthew Cross, 2-38 (6.2) Brandon McMullen, 3-55 (10.2) Richie Berrington, 4-60 (11.6) Tomas Mackintosh,, 5-73 (14.3) Christopher McBride, 6-74 (15.6) Michael Leask, 7-99 (20.5) Mark Watt, 8-100 (21.2) Jack Jarvis, 9-155 (28.3) Chris Sole, 10-163 (28.6) Alasdair Evans, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kasun Rajitha | 5 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 5.00 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 5 | 0 | 30 | 1 | 6.00 | |
| Mahesh Theekshana | 10 | 0 | 41 | 3 | 4.10 | |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 6 | 0 | 42 | 2 | 7.00 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 2 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 9.00 | |
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