Sanath leads Lankan cruise

On a day where Ireland’s bowling attack cut and spun their way through the form book, and Bermudan Dwayne Leverock threatened to sit on it, Sri Lanka kept tightly to the script and consigned Scotland to a comprehensive 170-run defeat in Bridgetown.

Eleven years on from his gamebreaking top-order assaults in the 1996 World Cup, Sanath Jayasuriya kicked off the latest campaign in typically belligerent fashion. Alongside Upul Tharanga, the left-hander hammered 77 from just 62 balls – including 20 off Scottish skipper Craig Wright’s sole over – before being dismissed by the experienced Dougie Brown.

Scottish spinners Glenn Rogers and Majid Haq were able to regan a measure of control in the middle overs, but with Tharanga (70) partnered by the in-form Kumar Sangakkara, the Test nation eased past 200. A late burst from Farveez Maharoof – 28 off half as many deliveries with two boundaries of each kind – added enough impetus to lift the Lankan total to 294. The only downsides for Sri Lanka came as Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Silva and Tillakaratne Dilshan only contributed 15 runs between them.

Haq and Fraser Watts began steadily, if not spectacularly for the associates, but when Chaminda Vaas snared both openers – and Lasith Malinga added Navdeep Poonia without scoring – the game was effectively up as a contest.

Jayawardene took the opportunity to give all of his bowling options an extended stint with ball in hand, and each of his men performed with wicket-taking and economy to stifle the Scottish reply. Six batsman made double figures, but ex-England man Gavin Hamilton’s 25 was the highest score as the Scots subsided for 132.

Sri Lanka play New Zealand – yes, again – in their remaining warm-up match, whilst Scotland will aim to gain revenge over Bangladesh following a 2-0 ODI series reversal in the subcontinent earlier this year.

Sri Lanka 294-8
Kumar Sangakkara 81, Sanath Jayasuriya 77
John Blain 2-51, Dougie Brown 2-52

Sri Lanka won by 170 runs

Scotland 135
Gavin Hamilton 25, Colin Smith 19
Tillakaratne Dilshan 2-8, Sanath Jayasuriya 2-19