Sri Lanka march into second round
Jayasuriya got the 24th one-day century of his long career
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Wednesday, 21, Mar 2007 10:21
Sri Lanka gained a place in the second round of the World Cup with a comprehensive victory over Bangladesh in their group B encounter.
Having set a target of 319 to win Sri Lanka dismissed their opponents for just 112 runs from 37 overs to win by a massive 198 runs under the Duckworth Lewis method.
Bangladesh won the toss and chose to field having had success against India in their opening fixture using that strategy.
However this time they failed to get an early breakthrough against some stunning Sri Lankan batting which set up a platform for the rest of their innings.
Sanath Jayasuriya was the hero, scoring 109 off a mere 87 balls in a brutal innings which included seven sixes, though the 37-year-old had to complete his knock in two parts after retiring hurt on 83.
He put on an opening stand of 98 with Upul Tharanga (26) as the Sri Lankans feasted on the Bangladeshi bowling.
Captain Mahela Jayawardene chipped in with a useful 46 before Jayasuriya rejoined the fray with Kumar Sangakkara (56) who reached a half century, as did Chamara Silva (52), helping the side reach 319 from their 50 overs.
Sri Lanka's pace attack of Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga and Farveez Maharoof caused havoc at the top of the Bangladesh batting order restricting them to 26-4 before Muttiah Muralitharan was even required.
The young Bangladesh batsmen were no match for their seasoned opponents and wickets tumbled at regular intervals as they tried to chase down the imposing target.
A brief rain delay meant a revised total of 311 from 46 overs but the match was as good as decided at that stage.
Malinga picked up the penultimate wicket to finish with figures of 3-27 from six overs and Syed Rasel was run out to complete the rout.
Bangladesh will join Sri Lanka in the second round if they can defeat Bermuda in their final group game.