The Hindu : Sri Lanka win by 129 runs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 07, 2003

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Sport - Cricket

Sri Lanka win by 129 runs

Sharjah April 6. Kumar Sangakkara hit his second century on the trot as Sri Lanka scored an imposing 256 for five against Kenya in the four-nation one-day series here today.

(Sri Lanka defeated Kenya by 129 runs. Kenya was all out for 127 in 37.5 overs with Maurice Odumbe topscoring with 42. For Sri Lanka, Muralitharan took 3 wickets for 16, Jayasuriya 2 for 21 and Nissanka 2 for 26.)

Sangakkara, who had hit 100 not out against Pakistan here on Friday, followed it up with an unbeaten 103 as the Kenyan bowlers after a good start failed to put the brakes on their opposition with some poor performance.

Some undistinguished batting in the initial overs saw the Sri Lankans, who elected to bat, reach 104 for three at half-way stage before some brisk scoring by Sangakkara and Hashan Tillekeratne (43) took the Asian team past the 250-mark. The two added 93 runs for the fourth wicket.

The Lankan wicket-keeper batsman took 108 balls to compile his knock with the help of nine boundaries while veteran Tilakaratne faced 56 balls and hit two fours.

Earlier, skipper Sanatah Jayasuriya became the second Sri Lankan batsman and fourth in the world to complete 9,000 runs in one-day inetrantional cricket. He achieved the milestone when he reached seven during his knock of 36 today.

Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin and Aravinda de Silva are the other three batsmen who have crossed the mark.

Avishka Gunawardene, who opened the innings today with Jayasuriya, and Marvan Atapattu scored 24 and 19 respectively.

Kumar Dharmasena scored a 11-ball 16 while debutant Kaushal Lokuarachchi made eight.

Leg-spinner Colins Obuya, who created some difficulties for the batsmen, was the most impressive of the Kenyan bowlers taking two wickets for 38 runs. Tony Suji also took a brace giving away 52 runs. — PTI

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