Sri Lanka dismantles Kenya, Lasith Malinga takes six wickets – ICC Cricket World Cup 2011
The fourteenth match of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup 2011 was held between Sri Lanka and Kenya at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The Group-A game was a one-sided affair as Sri Lanka restricted Kenya to 142 runs and Sri Lankan pace bowler Lasith Malinga announced his return to full fitness, claiming six wickets.
Kenyan captain, Jimmy Kamande was all smiles when he won the toss and opted to bat first. He stated that they would accumulate a ‘heaps of runs’ against a good bowling side. On the other hand, Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara was confident his bowlers would wrap up the Kenyan innings early on.
It was a shaky start for Kenya, as openers Maurice Ouma and Seren Waters fell to the deliveries of Nuwan Kulasekara and Malinga respectively. It was a familiar display of opening-batting failure as Kenya slid to eight runs for the loss of two wickets in the third over. Kulasekara got Ouma (1 run off 7 balls) with his favorite in-ducker while Malinga took his first wicket of the day of Waters (3 runs off 4 balls) with an in-swinging yorker.
But a resilient and dogged display from the Obuya brothers frustrated the Lankans bowling attack. There were singles, twos and occasional boundaries as Collins Obuya and David Obuya steered the team to 102 for the loss of two wickets. The duo had plenty of luck: there were outside off drives, lots of edges and close leg-before appeals, but the brothers remained focused to give their side a solid platform to build on.
Sangakkara juggled with Angelo Mathews and the spin of Ajantha Mendis in the 14th over and even the legendary spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, but none of them could break through the partnership.
A breakthrough was finally achieved when Malinga’s bowled Collins Obuya (52 off 100 balls) in the 31st over. What followed was a complete collapse, as the final eight wickets were blasted out for just 40 runs.
Mathews took the 39-year-old Steve Tikolo’s wicket (7 runs off 17 balls) caught by Tillakaratne Dilshan in the 36th over.
David was next to go back to the pavilion after scoring 51 runs off 106 balls. The Kenyan skippers, Kamande was run-out in the 41st over, with Kenya was reeling on 128 for the loss of six wickets.
Malinga took his third wicket of Tanmay Mishra (0 off 13 balls) in the last ball of the 41st over. He then dismissed Peter Ongondo, Shem Ngoche and Elijah Otieno for a duck in three consecutive balls. Kenya set a mere target of 142-runs for Sri Lanka.
The chase was relatively easy as opener Upul Tharanga, who remained unbeaten at 67 runs along with Dilshan steered the team to 72 runs in 8.2 overs. Elijah Otieno managed to stump Dilshan for 44 runs in the 8th over.
The win was secured by Sangakkara, who added 27 runs, as Sri Lanka won by nine wickets with 188 balls remaining.
Lasith Malinga was crowned Man-of-the-match.
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