Sri Lanka booked their Super Six berth in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier after clinching a 133 run victory over Ireland at Queens Sports Club on Sunday.
Scotland beat Oman by 76 runs to make it three wins out of three in Group B. They joined Sri Lanka in moving on to the next round.
When Sri Lanka was put in to bat in Bulawayo, opener Dimuth Karunaratne scored 103 runs in 103 balls, and Sadeera Samarawickrama scored 82 runs. Together, they made a big score of 325 runs all out in 49.5 overs.
Mark Adair got 4 for 46 and Barry McCarthy got 3 for 56, but Ireland’s fastest bowler Josh Little gave up 78 runs in 8 overs without getting a wicket.
“If I get a start, I want to go for the big one,” said Karunaratne.
“In the morning, there was something for the bowlers, but when the swing stops we can get some boundaries. I was waiting for that… don’t try to hit them hard, just time them well.”
After McCarthy caught Kusal Mendis lbw with the first ball, Karunaratne and Samarawickrama put together 168 runs for the third wicket.
In the last few overs, Ireland tried to limit the damage by getting contributions from Charith Asalanka (38 runs) and Dhananjaya de Silva (42 not out).
Ireland needed to win to keep their hopes of qualifying alive, but when they lost their experienced opener Paul Stirling for six, things quickly went downhill.
Ireland was down to 57-3 when captain Andy Balbirnie was out. In the next over, Lorcan Tucker was bowled for a duck, and Wanindu Hasaranga caught Harry Tector in front for 33.
Curtis Campher, who scored a century in Ireland’s heartbreaking loss to Scotland, made a brief comeback with 39 runs, but once he top-edged the ball to the wicketkeeper, it was almost over for Ireland.
“We knew they had good spinners and they bowled well and cleaned us up,” said Balbirnie.
“Hugely disappointing not to get to the Super Sixes but you’ve got to move on.”
Hasaranga ended the match with 5 wickets for 79 runs, giving the Sri Lankan leg-spinner 16 wickets in three qualifiers in Zimbabwe so far.
In the other game in the group, Scotland set Oman a score of 321 to win. Brandon McMullen hit 136 off 121 balls, which was his first ODI century, and skipper Richie Berrington added 60.
In response, Oman fell to 72-4 before wicketkeeper Naseem Khushi made a fun 69.
He was one of five people who got out when Chris Greaves bowled with his leg spin. Greaves got 5-53, and Oman ended up with only 244-9.
“We’ve had three different matchwinners which shows our character,” said Berrington, whose side take on Sri Lanka in their final group game.
“We know the importance of every point, so Tuesday’s going to be a big one against Sri Lanka. We have a lot of belief and know we need to get better with every game.”
