Sri Lanka crush Canada

HAMBANTOTA.
Mahela Jayawardene smashed an 81-ball century, the fastest by a Sri Lankan in the World Cup, to set up a 210-run victory over Canada in Group A yesterday.
Jayawardene blasted a six and nine fours in his 100 to set up a hefty 332-7 after Sri Lanka won the toss and batted first.
He was joined for a 179-run third-wicket partnership by Kumar Sangakkara who was out eight runs short of his century.
In response, Canada lost wickets steadily although some lusty hitting by Rizwan Cheema (37) including two big sixes helped take them past three figures to their eventual 122 all out. Jayawardene’s quickfire knock surpassed the previous Sri Lankan quickest in the competition, 85 balls by Sanath Jayasuriya.
For the many who slammed the ICC’s decision to expel Associates from the next World Cup, this was a bad day.
After Kenya were embarrassed by a modest New Zealand team, Canada desperately needed to showcase why minnow teams belong on the global stage. Instead they were overwhelmed by Sri Lanka, who opened their World Cup campaign as emphatically as their co-hosts India did on Saturday.
After India’s fervoured opening at Mirpur proceedings at Hambantota felt much more leisurely and with a combination of sightscreen problems and a few injuries, it took the visitors four hours to get through their fielding effort. For the first 20 overs of Sri Lanka’s innings the scoring rate was almost as sluggish – despite a 59-ball half-century for Tillakaratne Dilshan – as Canada demonstrated the ideal model for Associate cricket. Disciplined dobbers combined with swift fielding and a slowish track to keep Sri Lanka in check. It was only when Jayawardene arrived that Sri Lanka’s campaign really kicked into gear. – Reuters.