Kumar Sangakkara breaks ODI record with fourth World Cup hundred in win over Scotland
Wednesday 11 March 2015 12:46, UK
Kumar Sangakkara became the first man to score four successive one-day international centuries as Sri Lanka beat Scotland by 148 runs in in their World Cup match in Hobart.
He scored 124 off 95 balls – his 25th ODI hundred and highest score of the tournament, passing the unbeaten 105 and 117 he made against Bangladesh and England, and his most recent 104 against Australia.
Tillakaratne Dilshan (104) smashed a century of his own – his 22nd in ODIs and second at this World Cup – as the pair put on 195 runs for the second wicket.
Angelo Mathews blasted a 20-ball fifty as Sri Lanka set Scotland a massive target of 364 to win, and despite fifties for Freddie Coleman (70) and Preston Mommsen (60) in a 118-run fourth wicket stand, Scotland fell to 215 all out and their fifth straight defeat.
They have one final chance to register their first ever World Cup win against Australia again in Hobart on Saturday, while Sri Lanka are next in action in their quarter-final in Sydney next Wednesday.
They won the toss and opted to bat first but their start gave no clue to the kind of carnage that was to come, as Lahiru Thirimanne fell for a 21-ball four – edging to second slip off Alasdair Evans.
Dilshan and Sangakkara rebuilt, moving sedately through to just 97-1 from the first 20 overs before the pair proceeded to launch 114 runs from the next 14 overs.
They brought up their tons in consecutive balls in the 34th over before Dilshan ended the party early by falling in the next over after taking the batting powerplay.
It sparked a flurry of late wickets as Sri Lanka made a bit of a mess of the final 15 overs, losing regular wickets to overly-aggressive slogs by batsmen who didn’t take time to get set.
First, Mahela Jayawardene and Sangakkara fell in consecutive balls to Josh Davey (3-63) and Sri Lanka lost four wickets for 10 runs at one stage.
Cricket World Cup 2015
In between, Mathews showed his team how it should be done with a quickfire 51 that contained six sixes – including four in a row off Matt Machan to take him to fifty, but he fell looking for his fifth.
Kusal Perera (24 off 13 balls) chipped in as he and the final wicket pair of Nuwan Kulasekara (18no) and Dushmantha Chameera (12no) were the only others to pass double-figures.
Having been nine wickets down with just over three overs to spare, Sri Lanka did manage to bat out their 50 overs, setting Scotland 364 to win.
Scotland got off to the worst possible start in reply as their top-scorer for the tournament, Kyle Coetzer, fell caught and bowled to Lasith Malinga (2-29) for a second-ball duck.
His opening partner Calum MacLeod was bowled by Kulasekara (3-20) for 11 and Matt Machan was trapped lbw by Dilshan for 19 to reduce Scotland to 44-3 in the 12th over.
But just as it looked like Scotland might be heading for a heavy defeat, their captain Mommsen and Coleman put on a determined century stand that pushed them up to 162-3.
But Mommsen’s dismissal triggered a collapse as Scotland’s final seven wickets fell for 53 runs, with Richie Berrington the only other to pass double figures in an entertaining 22-ball 29 which contained two big sixes.
He was the penultimate wicket to fall as Chameera (3-51) finished off the tail, also grabbing the final wicket of Davey as Scotland ended 215 all out with 41 balls to spare.
Watch highlights of Sri Lanka’s win over Scotland throughout the day on Sky Sports World Cup (channel 403) or with Hindi commentary on Zee Cinema (channel 790).
