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| October 08, 2006 | Sunday | Ramazan 14, 1427 |
Lankans in strong position as Tharanga hits century
MOHALI, Oct 7: Opening batsman Upul Tharanga crafted an attractive century Saturday as Sri Lanka posted 302 for eight against Bangladesh in the first limited-overs qualifier for the ICC Champions Trophy tournament.
The left-handed opener hit 105 off 129 balls with one six and 11 fours for his fifth hundred. He also completed 1,000 runs during his 30th One-day International.
Tharanga, 21, was involved in fruitful partnerships with Sanath Jayasuriya and skipper Mahela Jayawardene after his team had been put in to bat on a good track in the day-night match.
He added 67 for the opening wicket with veteran Jayasuriya (31) and 63 for the next with Jayawardene (35) to put his team on course for a challenging total.
Former skipper Marvan Atapattu, who was out of action for six months due to an injury, also made merry with a 42-ball 40 as Sri Lanka plundered 73 in the last 10 overs.
Tharanga said that the seemingly ageless Jayasuriya had been a big help to his batting.
“It is a bonus for a youngster like me to have Sanath at the other end,” said Tharanga.
“I can bat my normal game when Sanath is with me.” Tharanga said that he was confident the Sri Lankans had enough on the board.
“I think we have enough runs. The way we have been batting the last six months all of us batsmen have got runs.” Bangladesh's decision to field first after winning the toss failed to produce the desired result as none of their bowlers could keep pressure on Sri Lanka's top-order batsmen.
Left-handed Jayasuriya hit five fours in his 46-ball knock before being trapped leg-before by seamer Syed Rasel, but there was no respite for Bangladesh.
Jayawardene severely punished seamer Farhad Reza, smashing three fours and a six in one over. His attractive cameo ended when he mistimed a sweep off left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak and was caught at short mid-wicket.
There was no stopping Tharanga, who continued to dominate Bangladesh's attack with a wide range of strokes. He was eventually bowled in the closing overs in a bid to step up the run-rate.
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, defending champions West Indies and Zimbabwe will play qualifying matches before the main tournament starts on October 15.
Each side will play three league games before the top two advance to the main draw.
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka
U Tharanga b Mortaza 105
S T Jayasuriya lbw b Rasel 31
D M P Jayawardene c Ahmed b Razzak 35
K Sangakkara c Mortaza b Rafique 22
M Atapattu c Reza b Rasel 40
T M Dilshan not out 26
F Maharoof run out 0
W P U C Vaas c Reza b Razzak 4
M Muralitharan run out 11
L Malinga not out 7
EXTRAS: (B-1, LB-4, W-16) 21
TOTAL: (for 8 wickets, 50 overs) 302
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-67, 2-130, 3-193, 4-244, 5-260, 6-262, 7-273, 8-295
BOWLING: Mortaza 10-0 -60 -1 (w-5), Rasel 10 - 0 - 65 - 2 (w-2), Reza 8 - 0 - 63 - 0 (w-2), Razzak 10-0-49-2 (w-2), Rafique 10-0-37-1, Hasan 2-0-23-0 (w-1).—AFP
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