Mahela Jayawardene hit Sri Lanka’s fastest World Cup century as he guided the tournament co-host to a 210-run victory over Canada in Group A on Sunday.
Jayawardene’s 100 off 81 balls spurred Sri Lanka to 332 for seven in front of 30,000 fans at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, which was hosting its maiden one-day international.
Nuwan Kulasekara (three for 16) and Thisara Perera (three for 24) then ran through the top order as Canada were bowled out for 122 in 36.5 overs.
Sri Lanka’s total revolved around a 179-run third wicket stand between Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, the captain, (92) after Sri Lanka opted to bat first.
Sangakkara missed out on a century, but toyed with the inexperienced Canada bowlers before giving a return catch to John Davison, the off spinner who finished with two for 56.
Sangakkara hit a straight six off leg-spinner Balaji and also scored seven boundaries before paying the price for a loose shot. Jayawardene later fell to Davison on the very next ball he faced after breaking Sanath Jayasuriya’s 85-ball record, set against Bangladesh in 2007.
Sangakkara said: “It was all set up by the openers, but the real star was Jayawardene, it is very easy to bat with him.
“Wickets like this, it is nice to get an idea of what’s going on, that’s why I took a bit of time. It was good that Mahela came back to bring the momentum our way. We were pretty clinical, the spinners and the fast bowlers did exactly what we wanted.”
Ashish Bagai, the Canada captain, said: “Always going to be a tough task, we started pretty well, kept them under five for the first 25 overs, then two world-class players took it away from us.”
Upul Tharanga (19) helped provide the home side with a solid start of 63 off 72 balls alongside Tillakaratne Dilshan.
Tharanga was run out as he drove to wide mid-off, but misjudged a single run, before Davison took a neat catch at deep cover to end Dilshan’s innings.
Sangakkara’s only blemish came when, on 12 runs when Nitesh Kumar failed to hold a difficult catch at short third man off Rizwan Cheema.
Jayawardene completed his 13th one-day international century – which featured nine fours and a six – when he turned Davison for a single, before sweeping into the hands of Balaji Rao at short fine leg. Baidwan (two for 59) took two late wickets for Canada, but by that time Sri Lanka were looking for quick runs.
Canada’s run chase hit trouble before it had even started with Thisara Perera clean bowling Davison off the first delivery. He went on to trap Zubin Surkari leg before wicket and later had Bagai (22) caught behind.
Cheema, the Pakistan-born batsman, delayed the inevitable, top scoring with a late 37 off 35 balls.
Scorecard
Sri Lanka
U Tharanga run out 19
T Dilshan c Davison b Rizwan Cheema 50
K Sangakkara c & b Davison 92
M Jayawardene c Balaji Rao b Davison 100
T Perera run out 11
A Mathews c & b Baidwan 21
C Kapugedera c sub b Baidwan 2
T Samaraweera not out 18
N Kulasekara not out 7
Extras: (lb 3, w 8, nb 1) 12 Total: (7 wickets; 50 overs) 332
Did not bat: M. Muralitharan, A. Mendis
Fall of wickets: 1-63 2-88 3-267 4-276 5-284 6-295 7-314
Bowling: Chohan 8-0-62-0, Osinde 2.1-0-10-0 (nb-1, w-2), Baidwan 8.5-0-59-2 (w-2), Hansra 9-0-47-0 (w-1), Cheema 7-0-47-1, Balaji Rao 7-0-48-0, Davison 8-0-56-2 (w-2)
Canada
R Gunasekera c Dilshan b Kulasekara 1
J Davison b Perera 0
Z Surkari lbw b Perera 6
J Hansra st Sangakkara b Samaraweera 9
A Bagai c Sangakkara b Perera 22
Rizwan Cheema c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 37
T Gordon c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 4
Khurram Chohan c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 4
H Baidwan not out 16
W Balaji Rao c Tharanga b Muralitharan 6
H Osinde b Mendis 4
Extras: (lb 8, w 4, nb 1) 13 Total: (all out; 36.5 overs) 122
Fall of wickets: 1-0 2-8 3-12 4-42 5-53 6-68 7-74 8-103 9-111 10-122
Bowling: Kulasekara 6-2-16-3, Perera 7-0-24-3, Mendis 7.5-3-18-1 (w-1), Muralitharan 9-0-38-2 (nb-1, w-3), Dilshan 5-0-14-0, Samaraweera 2-0-4-1
Earlier, New Zealand dismissed Kenya for a paltry 69 in 23.5 overs in their Cricket World Cup encounter in Chennai before comfortably chasing down the target in reply without losing a wicket.
Hamish Bennett claimed four wickets while Tim Southee and Jacob Oram took three each as the Kenya batsmen failed to cope with the pace of the Black Caps' attack.
Indeed, only three reached double figures as they collapsed from 40 for one to 69 all out.
Bennett, 23, did the damage in his opening burst while Southee and Oram combined to wrap up the tail.
Batting first after winning the toss, Kenya got off to a dismal start, losing five wickets inside the first 16 overs with paceman Bennett doing bulk of the damage.
Bennett, who was introduced as first change in the 10th over, claimed four wickets in his fiery opening spell after Southee had sent back opener Alex Obanda (six) early on.
From 40 for one wicket in the 12th over, the minnows slumped to 49 for five, with Seren Waters (16), Collins Obuya (14), Steve Tikolo (two) and wicketkeeper Maurice Ouma back in the pavilion after failing to stand up to Bennett's pace.
The 23-year-old quick got three of his four victims lbw as he stuck to an impeccable line during his opening spell which cost just 15 runs.
Oram then took over from Bennett and claimed Jimmy Kamande (two) to leave Kenya tottering on 59 for six.
He struck again in his next over when Thomas Odoyo found his leading edge caught at point by Jesse Ryder.
Southee then polished off the tail, dismissing Nehemiah Odhiambo and Shem Ngoche in successive balls while Oram finished the innings by sending back No 11 Elijah Otieno.
In reply, New Zealand's openers had little trouble of reaching 70. Martin Guptill (39) and Brendon McCullum (26) helped themselves to some easy boundaries in the short run-chase.
Scorecard
Kenya
A Obanda lbw b Southee 6
S Waters lbw b Bennett 16
C Obuya lbw b Bennett 14
S Tikolo b Bennett 2
M Ouma lbw b Bennett 1
R Patel not out 16
J Kamande c BMcCullum b Oram 2
T Odoyo c Ryder b Oram 2
N Odhiambo b Southee 0
S Ngoche lbw b Southee 0
E Otieno c Styris b Oram 0
Extras (b4, lb3, w2, nb1) 10
Total (all out; 23.5 overs) 69
Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Obanda), 2-40 (Waters), 3-42 (Tikolo), 4-44 (Obuya), 5-49 (Ouma), 6-59 (Kamande), 7-63 (Odoyo), 8-68 (Odhiambo), 9-68 (Ngoche), 10-69 (Otieno).
Bowling: Southee 6-0-13-3 (nb1), N. McCullum 4-0-15-0 (w1), Bennett 5-0-16-4 (w1), Vettori 6-1-16-0, Oram 2.5-1-2-3.
New Zealand
M Guptill not out 39
B McCullum not out 26
Extras (b2, lb1, w3, nb1) 7
Total (for no loss; 8 overs) 72
Bowling: Odoyo 3-0-25-0 (w1), Otieno 2-0-18-0, Kamande 2-0-21-0 (w1), Odhiambo 1-0-5-0 (nb1, w1).
