INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Pathum Nissanka&s sublime unbeaten 101 propelled Sri Lanka to a place in this year&s Cricket World Cup in India as the 1996 winners trounced
hosts Zimbabwe by nine wickets on Sunday.Sri Lanka had bowled out Zimbabwe for a modest 165 inside 33 overs and Nissanka never gave the
hosts a hope of victory with his superb innings lifting Sri Lanka to 169 for one in their Super Six stage match, AFP reported.Zimbabwe can
still qualify if they beat Scotland on Tuesday.Sri Lanka&s bowlers had performed admirably in skittling the hosts out & man of the match
Maheesh Theekshana taking 4-25.Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka said it was crucial for them to be at the sport&s quadrennial showpiece &
another former winner West Indies are missing out for the first time after losing to Scotland on Saturday.&It was a much-needed thing for
Sri Lanka to play on that big stage,& said Shanaka.&See coming for the qualifiers
It&s always tough but still, if you go through the process…and we knew with the team we&ve got, we were going to qualify for the World
Cup.&The Zimbabweans had been up against it from the start after being put into bat by Shanaka and were left tottering on 30-3 due to a
stunning opening spell by Dilshan Madushanka.The hosts had prided themselves on getting through the first 10 overs in the previous matches
in the tournament virtually unscathed & they had lost just the one wicket.However, a fired-up Madushanka gave them a rude awakening reducing
them to 8-2 beginning by dismissing Joylord Gumbie for a duck and then Wessley Madhevere for one.He snapped up the key wicket of captain
Craig Ervine for just 14, the 37-year-old with over 100 ODI appearances for the hosts nicking the ball to wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis.Sean
Williams and Sikandar Raza steadied the ship & only after the former had escaped when Matheesha Pathirana dropped a simple chance off
Madushanka prompting a withering look from Sri Lankan coach Chris Silverwood.They put on a fluent partnership of 68 but just as they were
hitting their boot straps Raza on 31 holed out to Madushanka off the bowling of Shanaka to leave the hosts 98-4.They recovered briefly
thanks to 19 & including three sixes & coming off a Dhananjaya over.Williams brought up his half century with a beautifully executed four in
Shanaka&s next over.However, his elation was to turn to despair soon afterwards.Shanaka made an inspired bowling change bringing on
Theekshana for his second spell in place of the the expensive Dhananjaya and with just his fifth ball bowled Williams for 56.Theekshana
struck again dismissing Burl for 16 with a similar type delivery to reduce the hosts to 130-6 and it became 144-7 when he trapped Luke
Jongwe lbw for 10.The Zimbabwe tail failed to wag with the unpredictable Matheesha Pathirana taking two of the remaining three wickets in
one over.Ervine said despite the heavy defeat they would stick to their gameplan for Tuesday&s match.&I don&t think we need to prepare any
differently from what we have been doing in this tournament (against Scotland),& said Ervine.&We have been playing some very good cricket
Sri Lanka were much better than us today.&Ariana Television Network will broadcast the matches daily live on TV and Website.Pre-match shows
will start at 11am (Kabul time), while the day&s match will start at 11.30am (Kabul time).Matches are streamed live on Ariana Television
websites simultaneously:www.arianatelevision.com/live and www.arianatelevision.com/icc-liveCLICK HERE for the broadcast schedule on
Ariana TelevisionThe post Nissanka century books Sri Lanka&s World Cup spot first appeared on Ariana News.
