Wanindu Hasaranga takes six wickets as Sri Lanka beat UAE in Cricket World Cup Qualifier

Wanindu Hasaranga and the rest of Sri Lanka’s starry line up dealt a strong defeat to the UAE in their opening game of the Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Bulawayo.

The Indian Premier League leg-spin superstar took 6-24 as Sri Lanka started their pursuit of a place at the main event with a massive 175-run win.

Rather than regarding this competition as beneath them, Sri Lanka appear intent on making a point at this Qualifier on this evidence.

They have played in it before. They were the first winners of what was then known as the ICC Trophy, back in 1979.

Sri Lankan cricket advanced rapidly thereafter, with them soon being granted Test status, and later winning the World Cup itself.

That World Cup, in 1996, was the first time UAE had played on the world stage, after they had won the Qualifier in 1994. UAE cricket’s progress has been nothing like that of Sri Lanka and the gulf between the two nations is vast.

Sri Lanka were always going to be daunting opposition, but the extent to which they dominated was chastening for the UAE.

The 355-6 they amassed was Sri Lanka’s third highest score in any ICC competition, and the first time they had exceeded 350 in ODIs in five years.

Their top four all hit fifties, with Kusal Mendis’s 63-ball 78 being the biggest and the fastest. It could have been all the top five, but Charith Asalanka was not out on 48 in just 23 balls at the end of their innings.

UAE have been no strangers to playing against the Test elite. They came into this game on the back of four defeats against West Indies in the space of a couple of weeks.

That preparatory series against the side from the Caribbean threw up more questions than answers, though. It prompted a reshuffle ahead of play at Queen’s Sports Club.

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