Sri Lanka defeated Kenya by 9 wickets in their ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Group A match in Columbo on Tuesday 1st March thanks in no small part to a stunning hat-trick of wickets from their pace bowler, Lasith Malinga, who went on to collect six wickets.
Kenya won the toss and elected to bat, before making only 142 All Out from 43.4 overs. Sri Lanka came in and knocked off 146 for 1 wicket in just 18.4 overs, giving Sri Lanka a 9 wicket victory.
The story of the match was, most definitely, the second World Cup 2011 hat-trick in as many days, which was taken when Malinga collected number six, Mishra (0) LBW, then clean bowled Ongondo (0) and Obado (0). Two balls later, Malinga took out Otieno (0) to complete stunning figures of 6 for 38 off 7.4 overs.
This was also Malinga’s second ICC Cricket World Cup hat-trick, as the same player achieved the remarkable feat in 2007 against South Africa (when he took four in a row). The player, who is sometimes nicknamed “Malinga the Slinger” has always been considered something of a ‘streaky’ bowler, who can be devastating when he hits his straps. This clearance job he did on Kenya demonstrates this well, as Mailinga took 5 wickets in just 11 balls to finish off a Kenya side who looked, at one stage, to be on course to post a reasonable score, or, at the very least, to play through 50 overs.
A half century from each of the Obuya brothers had got Kenya back on track after losing their opening batsmen for just 8 runs.
Collins Obuya (52) top scored, though his brother, David (51) was just one run behind him.
However, once these two were removed by Malinga and Muralitharan, Kenya’s resistance was non-existent, and just 15 runs were added for the final 6 wickets, giving them a total score of 142 All Out.
Sri Lanka came in and quickly knocked off the Kenyan total, in 18.4 overs, with Tharanga (67 Not Out) top-scoring, while Dilshan (44) and Sangakkara (27 Not Out) also impressed. Kenya’s wicket-taker was Otieno.
This match was all about the return of Malinga, who had missed the opening Sri Lanka matches with a back injury – if they can keep him fit and firing like this, Sri Lanka look to have a very deadly attacking option newly restored to them.
Sri Lanka v Kenya – ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Scorecard
Kenya won the toss and elected to bat.
| Kenya 1st Innings | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | ||
| Ouma | lbw | b Kulasekara | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Waters | lbw | b Malinga | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| C Obuya | b Malinga | 52 | 100 | 4 | 0 | |
| D Obuya | c Samaraweera | b Muralitharan | 51 | 106 | 3 | 0 |
| Tikolo | c Dilshan | b Mathews | 7 | 17 | 1 | 0 |
| Mishra | lbw | b Malinga | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| Kamande | run out (Silva) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Odhiambo | not out | 8 | 10 | 2 | 0 | |
| Ongondo | b Malinga | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Obado | b Malinga | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Otieno | b Malinga | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Extras | 3nb 9w 1b 6lb | 19 | ||||
| Total | all out | 142 | (43.4 ovs) | |||
| Sri Lanka Bowlers | O | M | R | W |
| Malinga | 7.4 | 0 | 38 | 6 |
| Kulasekara | 9 | 1 | 18 | 1 |
| Mathews | 7 | 0 | 20 | 1 |
| Mendis | 9 | 2 | 23 | 0 |
| Muralitharan | 8 | 0 | 24 | 1 |
| Silva | 3 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Sri Lanka 1st Innings | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | ||
| Tharanga | not out | 67 | 59 | 12 | 0 | |
| Dilshan | c Ouma | b Otieno | 44 | 30 | 8 | 0 |
| Sangakkara | not out | 27 | 24 | 3 | 0 | |
| Extras | 1nb 7w | 8 | ||||
| Total | for 1 | 146 | (18.4 ovs) | |||
| Kenya Bowlers | O | M | R | W |
| Ongondo | 3 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| Odhiambo | 5 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
| Obado | 4 | 0 | 39 | 0 |
| Kamande | 1 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| Otieno | 4 | 0 | 26 | 1 |
| C Obuya | 1.4 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
Sri Lanka win by 9 wickets.
