Daily Times

BULAWAYO: Sri Lanka powered into the Super Six stage of the Cricket World Cup qualifying tournament with a crushing 133-run win over Ireland on Sunday that eliminated their opponents. The result also guaranteed Scotland and Oman will join Sri Lanka in progressing from Group B. Opener Dimuth Karunaratne made a run-a-ball 103 and Sadeera Samarawickrama hit 82 as Sri Lanka compiled an imposing total of 325 all out off 49.5 overs after being put in to bat in Bulawayo. Mark Adair took 4-46 and Barry McCarthy claimed 3-56 but Ireland’s pace spearhead Josh Little conceded 78 runs in eight wicketless overs. Karunaratne and Samarawickrama put on 168 for the third wicket after Kusal Mendis was trapped lbw first ball by McCarthy.

Charith Asalanka (38) and Dhananjaya de Silva (42 not out) also chipped in as Ireland sought to limit the damage in the closing overs. Ireland needed a victory to keep their qualification hopes alive, but lost experienced opener Paul Stirling for six and the wheels soon came off. Captain Andy Balbirnie’s dismissal reduced Ireland to 57-3 and Lorcan Tucker was bowled for a duck the next over before Wanindu Hasaranga pinned Harry Tector in front for 33. Curtis Campher, who made a century in the gut-wrenching loss to Scotland, briefly countered in his knock of 39 but once he top-edged to the wicketkeeper Ireland were all but doomed. Hasaranga finished with 5-79, giving the Sri Lankan leg-spinner 16 wickets in three qualifiers so far in Zimbabwe.

McMullen ton, Greaves five-for set up Scotland’s big win against Oman: Brandon McMullen’s name sounds quite similar to Brendon McCullum’s. On Sunday morning, in what seemed like a Bazball effort in Bulawayo, McMullen also played quite like McCullum, switching gears from being 9 off 21 balls at one stage to finishing with 136 from 121. That took Scotland to 320 in 50 overs after they had managed just 47 in the first 13. In reply, Oman too took their time: they got 16 in the first five overs, but their run rate went past three again only at the end of 19 overs. They eventually fell short by 76 runs. The win confirmed Scotland’s progress to the Super Sixes, and Oman too qualified despite the loss after Sri Lanka beat Ireland earlier in the day. However, they will not be carrying any points to the next stage, with points only against fellow qualifying teams from the same group considered.

Brief scores

1: Sri Lanka 325 (49.5 overs; D Karunaratne 103, S Samarawickrama 82; M Adair 4-46) vs Ireland 192 (31 overs; C Campher 39, H Tector 33; W Hasaranga 5-79). Sri Lanka won by 133 runs.

2: Scotland 320 (Brandon McMullen 136, Ritchie Berrington 60, Bilal Khan 5-55) beat Oman 244 for 9 (Naseem Khushi 69, Shoaib Khan 36, Chris Greaves 5-53) by 76 runs.