ICC World Cup 2011: Sri Lanka thrashes
Netherlands in warm-up
ICC World Cup 2011 co-hosts Sri Lanka showed that they mean business in the upcoming tournament, as they convincingly beat the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Netherlands-c753 by an embarrassing 156 runs in their World Cup warm-up match played in Colombo on Saturday.
The Sri Lankans made a brilliant total of 351 runs for the loss of five wickets and easily managed to contain the Netherlands to a measly 195 runs.
Sri Lankan Captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and chose to bat first. His team did not disappoint, as the opening pair of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga batted brilliantly to put on a century stand. The opening combination
has been very effective for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, as the opening pair average 51.20 runs and has five partnerships of 100 or more runs in One Day Internationals.
Both players batted aggressively and scored 105 runs from the first 15-overs. Their partnership was eventually broken as Tharanga was dismissed in the 17th over with the score on 117.
The solid opening start allowed the Sri Lankans to try out different combinations in their line-up. Thilan Samaraweera was promoted up the order to number three and Angelo Mathews moved to number four.
Dilshan was the highest scorer as he managed 78 runs from the same number of deliveries. Samaraweera and Chamara Silva were the second and third highest scorers for Sri Lanka, with a solid 60 and 54 respectively.
The highlight of this Sri Lankan batting performance is that the younger players managed to shine at crease, allowing senior players like Sangakkara and Mahela Jayewardene to manage team strategies and get some much needed World Cup
preparation time.
From the Dutch side, Mudassar Bukhari and Pieter Seelaar were amongst the pick of bowlers. They were the only two bowlers with an economy rate of less than 6 runs and three wickets between them.
Chasing a huge total of 351 runs, the Netherlands started their innings nervously as they began losing wickets at regular intervals. Wicket-keeper batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wesley-Barresi-c96487 was the first man to find his way back to pavilion, as Lasith
Malinga got him edging a ball to Sangakkara, scoring just two runs.
Tom http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Cooper-c51561 was the second man to go as Ryan ten Doeschate and Alexei Kervezee soon followed him. The Dutch team was struggling at 37 for the loss of four wickets. Tom de Grooth and skipper Bas Zuiderent amassed a good partnership of
80 runs, but it proved to be too little too late.
Sri Lanka bounced back strongly, removing Zuiderent and Eric Szwarczynski in the span of two deliveries. The Dutch side stumbled from 117 for four to 195 all out. Grooth was the highest scorer for the Netherlands with 76 and Zuiderent
managed a decent 38 to ensure their innings to last on the pitch for 47.3 overs.
Dilhara Fernando was seemingly unplayable in the match, as he took four wickets and gave away only 43 runs. Kervezee, Grooth, Szwarczynski and Atse Buurman were among his victims. Thisara Perera and Rangana Herath chipped in with two
wickets each.
Sri Lanka is one of the favourites to lift the trophy this year with their added advantage of playing on familiar home conditions. The team emerged as Champions when the World Cup was hosted in sub-continent back in 1996. Their fans
will be expecting them to repeat their performance this time around.
Sri Lanka will play their second warm-up match against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 in Colombo on 15 February, 2011.
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