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Updated June 25, 2023

ICC WC Qualifiers: Sri Lanka's winning streak continues

TL;DR

Sri Lanka have secured their third straight victory in the WC Qualifiers. Today, they faced Ireland and secured a dominating win.

ICC WC Qualifiers: Sri Lanka's winning streak continues

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Sri Lanka have secured their third straight victory in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers. Today, they faced Ireland at Queens Park, where the Lankans secured a dominating win. They defeated the Irish by 133 runs. This victory keeps Sri Lanka at the top of the table in Group B with 6 points. However, Ireland have the same point as Sri Lanka, but The Lankans are on the top due to a higher run rate. On the other side, this is the third defeat for Ireland in a row. Their hope for playing in the World Cup is over with those three defeats.

As it happened

Andrew Balbirnie, the captain of Ireland, decided to bowl first after winning the toss. Therefore, Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne stepped in to start the batting innings for Sri Lanka. They had a decent start and kept the run rate at six. Their partnership was looking good, but Irish bowler Barry McCarthy changed the momentum in the 9th over. He picked up back-to-back wickets in the 9th over, forcing Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis to return to the pavilion. At this point, it seemed the match was under Ireland’s control. But Dimuth Karunaratne was out of his world. He brilliantly handled the disaster with Sadeera Samarawickrama, making a massive partnership of 168 runs. Both picked up half-centuries and were heading towards a century. Unfortunately, Sadeera Samarawickrama missed the century as he lost his wicket in the 35.1 over after scoring 82 runs. However, Dimuth Karunaratne didn’t miss the milestone and scored the highest 103 runs before losing the wicket. Relying on these two big runs, Sri Lanka ended their innings with 325 runs. It was never likely that Ireland would win the game as they chased a gigantic target. They kept losing wickets relentlessly. Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga was unstoppable in the qualifiers. He joins Waqar Younis to become only the 2nd bowler to pick five wickets in three consecutive games. Because of his aggression, Ireland lost all their wickets in just 192 runs. As a result, Sri Lanka bagged their third victory in the World Cup Qualifiers.

Andrew Balbirnie’s Reaction

Ireland’s skipper Andrew Balbirnie is not happy about these disappointing defeats, three in a row. He said, “We would have probably liked a few more inroads early on but not to be. We fought back well and kept them down to a score we thought we could have a crack on but we did not bat well and did not start well. We knew it was a pretty good pitch, we knew they had good spinners and they bowled well and cleaned us up. Hugely disappointing not to get to the super sixes but you gotta move on. We are gonna pick ourselves up quickly, whenever you play for Ireland there's a lot of pride regardless of the situation and that's what we got to play for in the next game.”

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