19 June 2023 04:11 pm
Sri Lanka's top four batsmen found form, each scoring half-centuries to help their team to a score of 355 for 6 in 50 overs in their opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers against United Arab Emirates in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
The total was their highest score in Zimbabwe, bettering the 330 they scored against the West Indies, at the same venue, against the West Indies.
Kusal Mendis was the best of the quartet scoring 78 off 63 deliveries, his third-wicket partnership with Sadeera Samawickrama proving crucial to give Sri Lanka the platform to push past the 300-run mark.
Samarawickrama, who scored 73 off 64, hit nine boundaries, but ensured a healthy rotation of the strike with Mendis, evidenced in the pair needing just 75 balls to reach 100 rims in their partnership.
That partnership, ultimately worth 105 runs, was broken in the 40th over, when Mendis pulled towards the deep midwicket boundary, only to find the fielder on the boundary line.
It prevented Sri Lanka falling behind after losing their second wicket, that of Pathum Nissanka, dismissed for 52 in the 27th over.
Nissanka and Karunaratne rode out a challenging opening 10 overs, where conditions had some assistance for bowlers, posting a partnership of 95 off 102 balls.
Mendis and Samarawickrama then carried Sri Lanka through that middle phase of overs, and despite losing Dasun Shanaka and Dhananjaya de Silva cheaply afterwards, there was no let up as Asalanka and Wanindu Hasaranga plundered 58 off the final 22 balls -- Asalanka unfortunate to miss out on a fifty of his own, remaining on 48 not out in 23 balls, to see out the completion of Sri Lanka's innings.
It bookended a productive final 10 overs, during which Sri Lanka scored 108 for the loss of three wickets, with 64 runs coming in the last five overs.
Sri Lanka 355 for 6 in 50 overs (Kusal Mendis 78, Sadeera Samarawickrama 73, Pathum Nissanka 57, Dimuth Karunaratne 52, Charith Asalanka 48*, Ali Naseer 2/44)