Lankans open campaign in grand style
Elmo RODRIGOPULLE reporting from England
The Sri Lankan cricketers who are determined to win the one-day
internationals, after their one-nil Test series defeat to England,
opened their campaign in grand style by beating Worcestershire by 57
runs in a one-day 50 over practice game at the New Road County Ground,
here today.
Sri Lanka made 351 for 5 and dismissed the Sauce County for 294 in
43.2 overs.
The Sri Lankan victory that should spur them on was made possible by
a belligerent 99 from left hander Jeevan Mendis who was unfortunate to
miss a well deserved century, smashing knocks from Sanath Jayasuriya 79
and 2 for 17 and Angelo Mathews 81 and controlled bowling by Lasith
Malinga 3 for 25 and Ajantha Mendis 3 for 68.
Jayasuriya who opened batting with Mahela Jayawardena was in
excellent nick ass he tore into the Worcester bowling from the first
ball he faced and raced to his 50 in 45 balls and his 79 came in 60
balls with 10 smashing fours and three big sixes.
Jayasuriya who was surprisingly left out of the Sri Lanka 2011 World
Cup squad, gave the selectors of that time 79 reasons as to why he
should not have been ignored for the World Cup.
It was the consensus that had he been in that squad Sri Lanka would
have done the Indians in and won the World Cup for a second time.
Padding up after quite a lay off, Jayasuriya did not show any
rustiness as he got his batting act going, and stroking the ball like
old times, he simply made the Worcester bowlers dance to his tune as he
with consummate ease, sweet timing and Eveready power mauled the
bowlers.
The 10 fours he hit and the three sixes were from the meat of the bat
and went screeching to the fence and over it and the bowlers and
fielders had to watch in obeisance the flight of the ball. Among the
crowd were Sri Lankans who were disappointed when the ‘Matara Mauler’
was finally dismissed.
Vice Captain of the team Thilana Kandamby made 35 from 47 balls.
Earlier Mahela Jayawardena made 18 and Dinesh Chaimal was unfortunate to
be out without scoring.
Angelo Mathews who was out of the Test squad owing to injury, showed
that he is back to full fitness and not lost his form of old as he broke
out into his renowned big hitting blasting 5 fours and 2 sixes in his
knock of 81 in 90 balls.
Jeevan Mendis joined Mathews and played cameo innings as he made the
Worcester bowlers suffer thrashing them for 99 runs in 71 balls with11
fours and 3 sixes. Their 100 run partnership came in just 16 overs.
Watching Mendis performing, it was a pity that he was not with the
Test team.
His all round ability- exquisite batting, excellent fielding and
tantalizing leg spin/googly bowling would have bolstered the team and
his bowling would have added the all important variety and troubled the
England batting.
With this knock he has served notice of his prowess and the selectors
when they sit to pick the teams will be hard pressed to keep Mendis out.
When Worcestershire batted opener Ali was all aggression as he raced
to 136 in 90 balls with 16 fours and 3 sixes. He was supported by
J.Cameron 65 in 69 balls with 4 fours and sixes and N. Kervezec 45 in 31
balls with 5 fours. For Worcester Pakistan off spinner returned figures
of 3 for 42 in 10 overs.
Unfortunately the rains have continued to follow the Sri Lankans
every where they play and Worcester was no exception. It is hoped that
the rains will keep off when the twenty20 and 50 over internationals
against England begins.
SRI LANKANS
INNINGS
D P M D Jayawardene C Cox b Saeed Ajmal 18
S T Jayasuriya c Saeed Ajmal b Choudhry 78
L D Chandimal lbw b Saeed Ajmal 0
S H T Kandamby c Choudhry b Saeed Ajmal 35
A D Mathews c Cameron b Whelan 81
B M A J Mendis not out 99
K M D N Kulasekara not out 13
Extras (lb 7, w 20) 27
TOTAL (5 wickets; 50 overs) 351
Did not bat: NLTC Perera, S Randiv, SL Malinga, BAW Mendis
Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-56, 3-131, 4-169, 5-332
Bowling: MS Mason 5-1-32-0, CD Whelan 10-0-82-1, Saeed Ajmal 10-1-42-3, MM Ali 9-0-65-0,
DKH Mitchell 6-0-34-0, SH Choudhry 7-0-69-1, ND Pinner 3-0-20-0
WORCESTERSHIRE
INNINGS
M M Ali c Chandimal b BAW Mendis... 136
J K Manuel c Jayasuriya b Malinga 4
A N Kervezee c Jayasuriya b BAW Mendis 45
N D Pinner run out (BMAJ Mendis) 3
J G Cameron c BAW Mendis b Jayasuriya 65
D K H Mitchell b Jayasuriya 21
S H Choudhry lbw b Kulasekara 0
O B Cox not out 8
Saeed Ajmal c Jayawardene b BAW Mendis 1
C D Whelan b Malinga 1
M S Mason b Malinga 0
Extras (lb 6, w 3, nb 1) 10
TOTAL (all out; 43.2 overs) 294
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-117, 3-127, 4-233, 5-270, 6-277, 7-289, 8-292, 9-294, 10-294
Bowling: SL Malinga 6.2-0-25-3, KMDN Kulasekara 8-0-53-1, NLTC Perera 6-0-51-0,
BAW Mendis 9-0-68-3, S Randiv 7-0-46-0,
BMAJ Mendis 3-0-28-0, ST Jayasuriya 4-0-17-2, |
