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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Opening bat Marvan Atapattu and off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan proved a handful for inexperienced Holland who succumbed to a massive 206-run defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in a ICC Champions trophy Pool 4 match played under lights at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

The win put Sri Lanka on top of Pool 4 with two wins and eight points and made them the first team to qualify for a semi-final place in the competition. Pakistan are the other team in the pool.

The Dutch may have ruled in Sri Lanka, but yesterday they were given a lesson to remember in cricket by the country's world class cricketers. Muralitharan's wizardry was too much for Holland as he went on to claim their last four wickets for 15 runs in a spell of 5.3 overs to hasten the end of the match after the early damage had been done by fast bowlers Chaminda Vaas, Pulasthi Gunaratne and Dilhara Fernando and, the middle by the fast off-breaks of Kumar Dharmasena. The bowlers had the assistance of wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara, who accounted for five victims (4 ct, 1 st) behind the stumps.

Holland were shot out for 86 off 29.3 overs after Sri Lanka had piled up a massive 292-6 in 50 overs, the innings being based largely on vice-captain Marvan Atapattu's sixth one-day hundred which won him the man-of-the-match award.

Attapattu's chanceless century during which period he faced 118 balls and hit eight fours was the only substantial contribution made by the Sri Lankan batsmen against the ICC associate member champs. Skipper Sanath Jayasuriya like the rest of the batsmen perished when well set for a big score after choosing to bat first on winning the toss. Jayasuriya made 36 in as many balls with six fours before square driving a ball to cover.

Kumar Sangakkara in need of some runs behind him stuck it out for 68 balls to score 41 with five fours, sharing with Atapattu a stand of 116 off 127 balls for the second wicket.

Sri Lanka continued to maintain a run rate of over five an over throughout the innings against bowling which hardly tested their ability at this level of competition.

Jayasuriya's and Aravinda de Silva's dismissals gave the middle order batsmen a turn at the crease. But Mahela Jayawardene who is need of a big innings to bolster his confidence made only 14 before being run out by a direct throw from Zuiderent from cover after surviving an lbw appeal where initially umpire David Orchard gave him out, but reversed his decision after consulting the TV umpire, as the ball had come off the bat and gone for four.

De Silva was not his usual self being dropped at one by van Troost off a return catch, and surviving a confident lbw at six before falling to a brilliant running one-handed catch by Tim de Leede at wide long-on who plucked the ball from the air one-handed.

Chaminda Vaas made 16 in as many balls but was put down twice at mid-wicket by Schiferli, with de Leede being the unfortunate bowler on both occasions. Vaas and Arnold who was unbeaten on 22 added 40 off 31 balls for the sixth wicket.

The Holland fielding left much to be desired with several chances going abegging and they also conceded as many as 38 extras.

SRI LANKA

S.T. Jayasuriya c Zuiderent b Grandia	 	 36
M.S. Atapattu c Oosterom b Lefebvre		101
K.C. Sangakkara b Raja			 	 41
P.A. de Silva c de Leede b Raja		 	 23
D.P.M. Jayawardene run out			 14
R.P. Arnold not out			 	 22
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas c and b Lefebvre		 16
M. Muralitharan not out			  	  1

EXTRAS (b-6, lb-9, nb-5, w-18) 		 	 38
TOTAL (6 wkts inns closed, 50 overs) 		292
Fall of wickets: 1-59 (Jayasuriya), 2-175 (Sangakkara) 
3-223 (De Silva), 4-234 (Atapattu), 5-247 (Jayawardene) 
6-287 (Vaas).
Did not bat: H.D.P.K. Dharmasena, 
C.R.D. Fernando, P.W. Gunaratne.
Bowling: Schiferli 7-0-29-0 (4w), 
Grandia 5-0-40-1 (4w, 3nb), Lefebre 10-0-59-2 (6w), 
de Leede 8-0-37-0 (1w), Esmeijer 5-0-36-0 (1w), 
Raja 10-0-50-2 (2w, 1nb), Van Troost 5-0-26-0 (1nb).

HOLLAND

R.F. van Oosterom c Sangakkara b Gunaratne	 0
D.L.S. van Bunge lbw b Gunaratne		 3
B. Zuiderent lbw b Vaas				 0
T.B.M. de Leede c Sangakkara b Fernando		31
R.H. Scholte c Sangakkara b Dharmasena		12
L.P. van Troost b Dharmasena			 0
J.J. Esmeijer c Fernando b Muralitharan		 7
A. Raja c Sangakkara b Muralitharan		 2
E. Schiferli st Sangakkara b Muralitharan	15
R. Lefebvre not out				 4
V. Grandia b Muralitharan			 0

EXTRAS (b-4, lb-2, nb-3, w-3) 			12
TOTAL (all out, 29.3 overs) 			86
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Oosterom), 2-4 (Zuiderant), 
3-4 (Bunge), 4-46 (Scholte), 5-52 (van Troost), 
6-57 (de Leede), 7-59 (Raja), 8-81 (Schiferli), 
9-82 (Esmeijer), 10-86 (Grandia).
Bowling: Vaas 6-2-11-1, Gunaratne 4-0-19-2 (3w), 
Fernando 5-0-21-1 (3nb), Dharmasena 9-3-14-2, 
Muralitharan 5.5-2-15-4.

TODAY: WEST INDIES v KENYA at SSC, 10 a.m.

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