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Sri Lanka survives Ireland scare, win by nine runs

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for Cricketain.com

Published: June 15, 2009

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London, Jun 14 2009: Sri Lanka survived a scare before putting one foot in the semifinal of the Twenty20 World Cup following their narrow nine-run win over minnows Ireland in their Super Eight match at Lord’s here today.

Sri Lanka are now sitting atop the Group F with four points from two wins. They had earlier beaten Pakistan.

Electing to bat, Mahela Jayawardene hit a gutsy 53-ball 78 to save Sri Lanka blushes as a spirited Irish attack restricted the islanders to a modest 144 for nine.However, Lankan bowlers lived up to their reputation and denied Ireland an upset win, restrictng them to 135 for seven.

Both Lasith Malinga (2/19) and Ajantha Mendis (2/22) bowled with fire and venom, putting up a clinical performance, to script Sri Lanka’s win.

Irish Skipper William Porterfield (31) and Niall O’Brien (31) had provided a decent start to the minnows, knitting together 59 runs for the first wicket.But the slow run rate dented their chances heavily and middle-order was left with a daunting task. John Mooney flourished late in the innings with unbeaten 31 but could not finish it off for his side.

Kumar Sangakkara rotated all his bowlers, including mystery spinner Mendis and wizard Muttiah Murlitharan, seeking early breakthrough but Ireland still got off to a decent start.

Trent Johnston bowled in tandem with Rankin and gave the Lankans the second shock when he had Skipper Kumar Sangakkara (3) caught behind wickets.

Old warhorses Jayawardene and Jayasuriya steadied the rocking ship with some sensible batting.However, the duo was made to work hard for those runs as Johnston and Rankin kept a tight line out side off-stump which hardly gave the pair any chance to score freely.

Jayawardene and Jayasuriya had to rely on ones and twos until spinner Regan West was introduced. Jayawardene found his touch as he played some elegant drives, hitting West for 14 runs in his second over, en route to his half-century.Just when the partnership started to look threatening, off spinner Kyle McCallan separated the duo by trapping Jayasuriya.He did not let new man in Chamara Silva settle either and sent him back to the dug out.

Cusack took two wickets in his second over, further denting the Lankan innings. He sent back Jehan Mubarak (7) and Nuwan Kulasekra (1). Jaywardene too departed while trying to accelerate towards the fag end of the innings.

Scoreboard of the Super Eight match between Sri Lanka and Ireland in the Twenty20 World Cup here today.

Sri Lanka:

Tillakaratne Dilshan	c O’Brien b Rankin	0
Sanath Jayasuriya	lbw b McCallan	27
Kumar Sangakkara	c O’Brien b Johnston	3
Mahela Jayawardene	b Cusack	78
Chamara Silva	c Rankin b McCallan	4
Jehan Mubarak	c O’Brien b Cusack	7
Angela Mathews	b Cusack	10
Nuwan Kulasekara	c Mooney b Rankin	1
Muttiah Muralitharan	st O’Brien b Cusack	0
Lasith Malinga	not out	1
Ajantha Mendis	not out	4

Extras (LB-5, W-4) 9

Total (9 wickets; 20 overs) 144

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-14, 3-81, 4-97, 5-126, 6-128, 7-132, 8-139, 9-140

Bowling: Rankin 4-0-27-2, Johnston 4-1-18-1, West 4-0-34-0, McCallan 4-0-33-2, Cusack 3-0-18-4,
O’Brien 1-0-9-0.

Ireland:

WTS Porterfield	c Sangakkara b Muralitharan	31
NJ O’Brien	st Sangakkara b Mendis	31
AR White	c Sangakkara b Kulasekara	22
KJ O’Brien	c Dilshan b Mendis	0
JF Mooney	not out	31
DT Johnston	b Malinga	9
AC Botha	b Malinga	0
AR Cusack	run out	2
RM West	notout	1

Extras (b 1, lb 3, w 3, nb 1) 8

Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 135

Fall of wickets: 1-59, 2-87, 3-89, 4-91, 5-106, 6-106, 7-129

Bowling: Mathews 3-0-23-0, Kulasekara 4-0-47-1, Mendis 4-0-22-2, Malinga 4-0-19-2, Muralidharan 4-0-13-1, Jayasuriya 1-0-7-0

Sri Lanka survives Ireland scare, win by nine runs

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