Dilshan and Tharanga guide Sri Lanka to victory over Zimbabwe

Sri Lanka stormed into the quarter-finals of ICC World Cup 2011 after scoring an easy 139-run victory over Zimbabwe in the Group A match at Pallekele. Tilekaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga scored centuries to bludgeon the hapless Zimbabwean bowling attack to all parts of the ground with a record first wicket partnership of 282 runs to post a massive total of 327 for 6.

Dilshan hammered his ninth World Cup century (144 runs off 131 balls with 16 fours and a six) while Tharanga hit his first World Cup century (133 off 141 balls with 17 fours) in the island’s strong total. Dilshan also became only the second player in World Cup Cricket history to hit a century and take four wickets after Netherlands allrounder Feiko Kloppenburg, who scored 121 and grabbed 4-42 against Namibia at Bloemfontein, South Africa in 2003.

In reply, Zimbabwe started well with opener Brendon Taylor scoring a fluent 80 adding 116 for for the first wicket with Regis Chakabva (35) before Dilshan starred with his magic bowling (3-1-4-4) took four wickets while Muralidharan took 3 wkts (3-34) as they combined well to scuttle out the batting of Zimbabwe for 188 in 39 overs. Dilshan missed a rare opportunity of scoring a century coupled with a hat-trick when he removed Craig Ervine and Greg Lamb off successive deliveries but Jayawardene could not latch on a low catch from Graeme Cremer at slip.

"This is the best match of my career today,'' Dilshan said after the match."I am really happy with my performance.'' Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara commented on Dilshan's performance "He's got that magic touch with the bat, with the ball and even on the field. He's been one of our most important players over the past 10 years (and) today again he showed how well he can come back from a couple of tough weeks for him.''

With this victory, Sri Lanka tops Group A with seven points from five group matches and they next meet New Zealand in its last group match at Mumbai on March 18.