Lanka's WC bid on target, says Jayawardene
CRICKET: It was mission accomplished for Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene after his team enjoyed a 159-run victory over Scotland in their opening World Cup warm-up match on Monday.
The 1996 champions are considered one of the dark horses for the title in the Caribbean and underlined their intentions after amassing 294 for seven before skittling out the Scottish side for 135 in the 42nd over.
"Coming into the World Cup and playing a side like Scotland whom we haven't played before, we wanted to make sure that we concentrate really well, focus on the game in hand and we did that," Jayawardene told reporters.
"All round we played really good cricket. We had a 100-run stand, we had a couple of 50-run stands. The only thing we would have liked to have done is one of the guys batting through the innings and getting 100."
Sanath Jayasuriya (77) and Upul Tharanga (70) exposed the lack of depth in the Scottish bowling attack after they piled on 117 runs for the opening wicket and Kumar Sangakkara later joined in the run fest by smashing 81 off 87 deliveries.
Despite the emphatic nature of the result, the Sri Lankans had started the match cautiously but Jayawardene said that had all been part of the strategy. "We wanted to asses how the wicket would play here," he said.
"We felt that it was a bit slow and if we had given away early wickets it would have been difficult for us. Once the openers got used to the pitch and the wicket, we got our target, we got 120 in 20 overs.
"We played some smart cricket today and that's what we might have to do in this World Cup because the wickets will play differently in different places."
Craig Wright's men started off promisingly in their reply but once they lost their opener Fraser Watts with the score on 33, wickets fell at regular intervals and Scotland headed for an inevitable defeat.
Even though his team whipped the Scottish team without much hassle, Jayawardene defended the inclusion of a record six non-test playing nations at this year's World Cup. "It's healthy for cricket (to have these teams playing here)," he said.
"That's how we've reached the standard we have now. If we hadn't been given the opportunity 20 years ago, we probably wouldn't have been here. In our point of view, that's how teams would get exposure and would get experience."
CRICKET: The Sri Lankan cricketers gave an awesome display to bring Kiwi cricket down to earth with a bang when they bundled them out for their second lowest score in one-day cricket at the famous Eden Park on Saturday, under lights.
It was one of the best team efforts seen by the Lankans for a long time and they richly deserved their success.
It has now become a habit that if the dashing left handed Sanath Jayasuriya fires Sri Lanka would win. It was so and his marvellous stroke play where he toyed with and humiliated the Kiwi bowlers would long be remembered.
At 37 and the manner in which he is batting, seeing the ball like a football, and launching out with Jessopian like hitting, amazes everyone and the question they ask is why was he forced into retirement and if he stayed that way what a loss it would have been to Sri Lanka cricket?

Jayasuriya I am sure must be aiming the shots he played at the selectors who forced him out and the critics who supported the poor thinking of the selectors. More muscle, strength and success to the great Jayasuriya.
Kumar Sangakkara is batting at his peak. Blessed with good eye and twinkle toed footwork, Sangakkara is eye-catching when in full flow.
He plays the game not only with his bat, but above all, uses his head and knows how to adapt to situations and play for team and country.

When his team lost three quick wickets after the blazing opening stand, he together with Marvan Atapattu, did not panic, but milked the bowling intelligently and paved the way for the big score, which was also swelled by some lusty hitting by Farveez Maharoof.