Late City Edition

Friday 11th March, 2011

Sri Lanka qualify for quarter-finals after Dilshan heroics REX CLEMENTINE REPORTING FROM Earlier, Dilshan and Upul Tharanga PALLEKELE scored their maiden World Cup hundreds Scoreboard adding 282 runs for the first off just We’ve often wondered whether there’s 269 deliveries. Sri Lanka Innings anything impossible for Tillakaratne The partnership is a record in World U. Tharanga c Chigumbura b Mpofu 133 Dilshan on the field. He’s done it all, Cups for the first wicket eclipsing the 194 T. Dilshan c Panyangra b Utseya 144 over the years, and yesterday in a Group ‘A’ run stand between Wajahatullah Wasti and T. Perera c Chigumbura b Price 3 World Cup match at Pallekele against Saeed Anwar against New Zealand at Old M. Jayawardene c Chakabva b Mpofu 9 Zimbabwe, he nearly got a hat-trick bring- Trafford in 1999. It’s also the second highest K. Sangakkara 11 ing a 139-run win to the hosts. partnership for any wicket in World Cups A. Mathews c Chigumbura b Mpofu 0 Zimbabwe had got off to a flying start behind the 318 run stand between Sourav C. Silva c Panyangra b Mpofu 4 reaching 116 for no loss in reply to Sri Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, against Sri T. Samaraweera not out 8 Lanka’s 327 and, after claiming a wicket in Lanka at Taunton in the 1999 tournament. Extras: (2b, 3lb, 1nb, 9w) 15 his first over, Dilshan dismissed Craig The duo also now own the highest partner- TOTAL: (for 6 ) 327 Ervine and in successive deliv- ship by a Sri Lankan pair for any wicket in Overs: 50. eries in his next over and had Graeme World Cup matches. Fall of wickets: 1-282, 2-289, 3-296, 4-300, Cremer dropped by Mahela Jayawardene at Dilshan made his intentions clear when 5-302, 6-308. first slip. he hit 18 runs off the first four deliveries of Did not bat: Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Jayawardene had taken a blinder to dis- the second over of the innings bowled by Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan. miss Lamb at the same fielding position but and raced to his half- Bowling: Mpofu 7-0-62-4 (1nb 2w), failed to hold on to the chance off Cremer century in 43 balls with eight fours and a Panyangra 6-0-51-0 (2w), Price 9-1-46-1 six. Tharanga, meanwhile, was more which flew low to his right to deny Dilshan (2w), Chigumbura 3-0-20-0, Utseya 10-0- watchful and took 67 deliveries for his fifty. what even Muttiah Muralitharan hasn’t 50-1 (1w), Cremer 7-0-42-0 (1w), Lamb 8-0- Three figures for Dilshan came off 95 been able to achieve. 51-0 (1w). Sri Lanka went onto win by 140 runs balls when he took a single after tapping the and took the number one slot in Group ‘A’ ball to the cover region while Tharanga Sri Lanka’s opener Upul Tharanga raises Tillakaratne Dilshan celebrates after Zimbabwe Innings becoming the first team in the competition his bat after scoring his century. (AP reaching his century during the Cricket brought up his tenth ODI hundred when he to qualify for quarter-finals. stepped out to and drove past B. Taylor c Jayawardene b Mathews 80 Photo/Andres Leighton) World Cup match against Zimbabwe in R. Chakabva b Muralitharan 35 and Pallekele, Thursday March 10. (AP) mid-off for four. gave Zimbabwe a flying start when they Sri Lanka opted for the Batting Power T. Taibu c Sangakkara b Mathews 4 added 116 runs in 119 balls for the first wick- Play in the 40th over and scored 54 run in P. Utseya st Sangakkara b Dilshan 4 et. Muralitharan produced the break- doosra. Angelo Mathews then picked up in 72 balls with nine fours and a six) before that period. C. Ervine lbw b Dilshan 17 through when he foxed Chakabva with a two wickets in successive overs including Dilshan ran through the Zimbabwe Tharanga was dismissed in the 45th E. Chigumbura c Perera b Muralitharan 6 that of Taylor (80 innings. He finished with four wickets con- over just four short of breaking the World G. Lamb c Jayawardene b Dilshan 0 ceding just four runs. Record for the first wicket held by him- G. Cremer not out 14 self and Sanath Jayasuriya against R. Price c Samaraweera b Perera 11 England at Leeds in 2006. He made 133 T. Panyangra lbw b Dilshan 0 in 141 balls with 17 fours. C. Mpofu b Muralitharan 1 Dilshan was dismissed for 144 in the Extras: (2b, 2lb, 12w) 16 next over just one run short of TOTAL: (all out) 188 equalling the highest score by a Sri Overs: 39. Lankan in World Cup innings only to Fall of wickets: 1-116, 2-125, 3-132, 4-150, see the legend of Aravinda de Silva still 5 156, 6-156, 7-165, 8-185, 9-185, 10-188. living on. Dilshan’s 144 came in just 131 Bowling: Malinga 8-0-51-0 (11w), balls with 16 fours and a six. He’s cur- Kulasekara 8-0-33-0 (1w), Perera 6-0-33-1, rently the highest run scorer in the 2011 Muralitharan 9-0-34-3, Mathews 5-0-29-2, World Cup with 283 runs in five innings. Dilshan 3-1-4-4. The start was fantastic for the Sri Umpires: Marais Erasmus, South Africa Lankans, but the finish was poor as and Nigel Llong, England. they lost six wickets for 26 runs towards the end. TV umpire: Tony Hill, New Zealand. Match referee: Chris Broad, England. 132nd Battle of the Blues Royal 276/9 decl., S. Thomas’ 65/3 BY REEMUS FERNANDO who went on to take four wickets. Rambukwella Scoreboard then joined Supun Subasinghe for a profitable 56 An intriguing contest between captains, runs partnership either side of lunch for the sec- Ramith Rambukwella and Chamodh Pathirana, ond wicket. Subasinghe too received a life when Royal College 1st Innings forgettable as well as memorable moments for he was dropped by Bongso off the bowling of debutants, dropped catches and half chances, Umesh Fernando. He was on three then. were the features of the first day’s play of the Waruna Dissanayake lbw Ravichandrakumar 42 The after-lunch session commenced with two 132nd Battle of The Blues encounter which Ramith Rambukwella ct S. Peiris b C. Pathirana 83 caught behind appeals in consecutive balls by began at SSC Ground, Colombo yesterday. Supun Subasinghe ct Bongso b C. Pathirana 19 Pathirana against Rambukwella which were A fiery Royal pace attack rattled S. Thomas’ Bhanuka Rajapaksha ct Bongso b Pathirana 55 both turned down by umpire T. H. Wijewardane. top-order to leave them struggling at 65 for three Imal Liyanage ct K. Perera b Ravichandrakumar 27 The last year centurion, being given a life on 29 wickets at close after skipper Rambukwella and Heshan Kumarasiri ct S. Peiris b C. Pathirana 02 runs earler, went on to compile 83 in 140 balls former Bhanuka Rajapaksha scored half Milan Abeysekara ct S. Peiris b C. Pathirana 16 before he was give out caught behind by wicket- centuries to guide them to 276 for nine wickets Devind Pathmanathan bowler Ravichandrakumar 07 declared. Gaurav Deva not out 06 The day’s most intriguing contest was Imran Khan lbw b Ravichandrakumar 00 between Rambukwella and Pathirana. Pathirana Extras (9b, 2lb, 2w, 6n) 19 found his decision to field first backfire as Total (for 09 wickets decl) 276 Rambukwella and Waruna Dissanayake pushed Overs 66.2 in 319 minutes Royal pass 50 runs without offering any chances. Fall of wickets: 1-91, 2-147, 3-164, 4-205, 5-217, 6- But the speedster came back purposefully in 247, 7-259, 8-276, 9-276 a determined second spell beating Rambukwella Did not bat: Anjana Kudahetti twice in consecutive balls before getting an edge Bowling:Chamod Pathirana 28-4-101-5(2w, 4n), to debutant Javed Bongso at slips only to be dis- Mewantha De Silva 8-1-28-0(1n), Umesh Fernando appointed when he failed to complete the catch. 16-1-69-0(1n), Madushan Ravichandrakumar 12.2-0- Rambukwella was on 29 runs then. That cost 50-4, Neomal Wickramasekara 1-0-6-0, Nuwan Prefects of Royal College flock around Ramith Thomians dearly as he went on to compile his Kavinda 1-0-11-0 Rambukwella after he scored a half century on the highest score of the season. first day of the 132nd Battle of the Blues encounter Opener Dissanayake and Rambukwella put S. Thomas’ College 1st Innings which started at SSC Ground yesterday. (Pic By on 91 runs for the first wicket. The first to Asiri Wickramanayake bowled A. Kudahetti 01 Kamal Bogoda) depart was Dissanayake, who scored a chance- Javed Bongso bowled G. Deva 19 keeper Sachin Peiris off the bowling of less 42 runs inclusive of six fours of which one Nuwan Kavinda not out 32 Pathirana. was scooped over his head. He was trapped lbw Sachin Peiris lbw G. Deva 05 While Rajapaksha, who was also given a life by debut spinner Madushan Ravichandrakumar Kavindu Perera not out 04 on 24 runs (dropped by Asiri Wickramanayake Extras (3lb, 1w) 04 off the bowling of Ravichandrakumar) scored 55 Total (for 3 wickets) 65 runs, Imal Liyanage chipped in with 27 for Royal Overs 14 in 76 minutes to post 276 for nine declared. Pathirana, who Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-48, 3-60 bowled 19 overs at a stretch, picked up five wick- To bat: Chamod Pathirana, Ramith Gunaratne, ets for 101 runs. Neomal Wickramasekera, Umesh Fernando, In their innings, Thomians faced a fierce Madushan Ravichandrakumar, Mevantha de Silva pace attack. Speedster Anjana Kudahetti picked Bowling: Imran Khan 4-0-25-0, Anjana Kudahetti 3-0- up a wicket in his first ball of the Royal- 19-1, Bhanuka Rajapaksha 4-1-7-0, Gaurav Deva 3-0- Thomian to live up to his promising First XI 11-2(1w) debut made early this season. Later, introduced Umpires: Prageeth Rambukwella, T.H. Wijewardane to the attack as the fourth bowler, Gaurav Deva Reserve Umpire: Mourice de la Zilva picked up the wickets of Bongso and Sachin Scorers: Thushara Cooray, Anura Ratnayake, Peiris. Chinthaka Munasinghe Nuwan Kavinda was unbeaten on 32 runs for Thomains when bad light forced an early end.

Friday 11th March, 2011