Hasaranga seals the deal with a brilliant caught and ball, he is absolutely pumped up as he picks up a fifer and his 16th wicket in the tournament as Sri Lanka register an emphatic 133 run victory over Ireland - they have lost seven consecutive ODIs and didn't really turn up in this tournament, absolute surrender with the bat today although they got a bit of momentum towards the death with the ball
Sri Lanka vs Ireland, 15th Match, Group B at Bulawayo, CWC Qualifier, Jun 25 2023 - Ball by Ball Commentary
Until the next one, this is Rvel Zahid waving goodbye on behalf of Peter Della Penna and our scoring guru K Vairavan.
Hasaranga is the real deal! He spun a web around Ireland's batters and kept shedding wickets at regular intervals as the batters continued to play reckless shots and it looked like they gave up the chase too early against a superior bowling attack. Hasaranga adds another feather to his cap by bagging three fifers in consecutive ODIs. Ireland's hopes are dashed as this resounding victory from Sri Lanka paves the way for Scotland and Oman to reach the Super Six stage. The early departure of their swashbuckling opening batter Stirling and then their lynchpin Balbirnie were major blows. Thereon, Ireland could never really recover from that early jolt. On the other hand, Sri Lanka ticked all the boxes; it was a complete performance from them in all departments of the game.
Dimuth Karunaratne struck a fluent, careful, precise and majestic century and he was complimented brilliantly by Sadeera Samarawickrama, who made 82, as the lower middle-order batters didn't squander the good start and the likes of Charisth Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva's breezy cameos pushed the score past 300. Mark Adair was the pick of the bowlers for Ireland, returning figures of 4/46 while Gareth Delany kept things quiet in his spell, conceding 52 runs in his 10 and chipped in with two scalps. Barry McCarthy leaked 62 in nine overs and snapped up three wickets. In reply, Ireland didn't have answers to the probing stuff and succumbed to the scoreboard pressure. They were under the cosh throughout the innings and tried to counter-attack Sri Lanka's bowlers but would lose the plot after hitting a couple of boundaries and the combative approach didn't really work in their favor and there were no big partnerships.
Dasun Shanaka, Sri Lanka captain: "Everything goes in the right direction, but we could have done better with the bat towards the end. Probably big hitting from myself and Wanindu did not come off in the last two matches. I have to stand up in these situations. We need to have a look at both options...we need to take a look at the bench and also take maximum points into the next round. Chameera is going to be key in the next round. We are very confident and are playing (according) to the conditions. We need to do well whatever the conditions here going forward."
Andrew Balbirnie, Ireland captain: "We would have probably liked a few more inroads early on. 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 got to move on. We are going to 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."
Dimuth Karunaratne, Player of the Match: "If I get a start, I want to go for the big one. In the morning, there was something for the bowlers, but when the swing stops we can get some boundaries. I was waiting for that, the first hour was about giving the bowlers respect. I try to apply the same technique, that is what has helped me score heavily in Test cricket...don't try to hit them hard, just time them well."
David : "I know the game is over but for the record, what is hurting Irish cricket is that overnight the county game was barred for Irish players. The previous generation developed in county cricket and the current generation is trying to develop is a mickey mouse quality set-up. I envy Scotland horribly that they get to develop their players in county cricket where In Ireland they basically learn the game playing international cricket!!"
David: "Charles, I'm saying that the majority of these Irish players are not up to it or are horribly out of form. We never replaced the last generation. We have a handful of south Africans (as do Scotland) but if you see the likes of Oman or even the Netherlands they rely on the expat community. Ireland should do the same as the development pathway are not working as well as they should."
Praveen: "All this firepower! Some sensible batting would have meant a good fight."
Praveen: "The only problem here is defining "home grown" players. This is best left to a nation's rules regarding who can represent them. Not the prerogative of the ICC."
Absolutely pummeled!
That left a dent! Rapacious loft for six wayyyyyyyyy over midwicket, just cleared his front leg and swings the ball with vigour into the crowd for six, giving Irelands fans something to cheer about.
Shuffles across his off stump and trying to work it off his pads to fine leg, went too far away and missed the line
Googly on a fuller length, picks it early and plonks it past mid-off for a run
Zips it in quicker on middle and leg, inverses his stance and goes for the reverse sweep, finds the fielder inside the circle
Tossed up outside off, cleared his front leg and flicks it across the line into the real estate at deep midwicket
Sonty: "Nepal have 100 ℅ home grown players in the squad, similarly Ireland have 90℅. And these nation struggling here. ICC should some rules to strict nation to play 90℅ home grown players. "
Flatter trajectory on a fuller length, middle stump line, he is right behind the line to defend it
Lunges forward and dead bats it back to the bowler
On a length and goes on with the arm outside the tramlines on off, a bit of an exercise for the umpire
Lobbed up on a length, quicker delivery on the pads, scuffs a drive back to the bowler
Goes down on one knee, ugly hoick across the line, outside edge goes past slip
Slow outside off, shorter, inverses his stance and finds slip fielder who collects it on bounce
Tossed up on a length, outside off, turns in from outside off, makes room and drives it all along the floor past cover
Lobbed up on a length, gun-barrel straight, solidly blocked right under his eyes
Improvisation at its best! Nails the reverse sweep to perfection, third man can only watch it crash onto the boundary rope. What will be Hasaranga's response?
Gets outside the line of off stump and paddles it away beautifully to fine leg boundary, deft touch earns him a boundary
Insolent smash through covers, Karunaratne running backwards, puts in the dive and flicks the ball inside the rope. Third umpire is taking a look if his feet was touching the boundary triangle as he made contact with the boundary, he did well to keep it inside the rope
Loads up for a big heave over the leg side, bat turned in his hand and the ball flutters away to square leg
A little short and outside off, wanders away to the leg side, makes room for a big hoick but then decides instead to block it towards cover-point
Charles: "What are you talking about David? Scotland don't have any test nation stars. Ireland have Test status, they need to step up!"
Namith: "Has somebody given Ireland a dare to keep their run rate above that of Sri Lanka's?"
Tossed up from over the wicket on a fuller length, veering leg side, gets down low to it and clips it away to backward square. Will Hasaranga bag a fifer? He will get an opportunity in the next over