Mendis stars in Sri Lanka romp

Holders stay unbeaten and progress

Last updated: 26th June 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Mendis stars in Sri Lanka romp

Mendis: five wickets

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Asia Cup - Group A
Lahore
Sri Lanka 290-9 Innings Complete (M L Udawatte 67, D P M D Jayawardene 61) v United Arab Emirates 148 (Amjad Ali 77, B A W Mendis 5-22)
Sri Lanka beat United Arab Emirates by 142 runs

Spinner Ajantha Mendis took five wickets as Sri Lanka crushed the United Arab Emirates by 142 runs in the final Group A match of the Asia Cup in Lahore.

Sri Lanka made 290-9, opener Mahela Udawatte, who replaced the experienced Sanath Jayasuriya, scoring 67 off 74 balls, while Mahela Jayawardene hit nine boundaries in his 43-ball 61 before he was run out.

Kaushal Weeraratne (40) and Nuwan Kulasekara (38) made valuable late contributions that helped Sri Lanka recover from a mid-innings slump.

Paceman Zahid Shah had the best figures for UAE with 3-49, while Fahad Al Hashmi (2-39) and Tauqir (2-47) also weighed in with two wickets apiece.

The UAE were briefly in the hunt when opening batsman Amjad Ali hit 12 boundaries in his 79-ball innings of 77 before wickets fell at regular intervals once unorthodox spinner Mendis came on to bowl.

Captain Saqib Ali (19) and Indika Batuwitarachchi (14) were the only other UAE batsmen to get into double-figures as UAE lost their last eight wickets for just 48 runs.

The victory meant defending champions Sri Lanka stay unbeaten in Group A. Bangladesh also qualified for the Super Stage after an easy win over the UAE in an earlier group match.