Colombo: Sri Lanka confirmed their place in the quarters of the 11th Cricket World Cup on Thursday by beating Zimbabwe by 139 runs.
The Sri Lankans outclassed the Zimbabweans in both batting and bowling. Sri Lanka set a difficult target of 328, which Zimbabwe never seemed likely to achieve.
Tharanga and Dilshan gave Sri Lanka a dream start of 282 runs. Tharanga made 133 while Dilshan made 144. After these two went to pavilion, finally, in the 45th and 46th over, Sri Lanka saw a collapse. They lost four more wickets in the last five overs.
Mpofu was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, although he went for 62 in his seven overs.
Like Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe had a good start. They lost their first wicket in the 20th over at 116. Taylor made 80 while Chakabva made 35. But no other batsman could offer much resistance to Sri Lankan bowlers.
Dilshan excelled in bowling as well, claiming four wickets from three overs, giving just four runs. Muralitharan grabbed three wickets while Matthews took two.
Dilshan was, of course, the man of the match.
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