Across the Atlantic in Beckenham in the South East of England, Scotland cricket team were creating a milestone record of their own as the weaker side shocked Sri Lanka in Champions Trophy Warm-Up match.
The Scots finally managed to beat an ICC full member side for the very first time and in some style, comfortably sweeping aside Sri Lanka by 7 wickets at the Kent County Cricket Ground.
And while the match did not contain full one-day international status, nothing could take the gloss off a spirited performance by the Scots on what was categorically their day, against a team with plenty of international experience in its ranks. It served as the first of two matches which form part of Sri Lanka’s preparation for the Champions Trophy being held in England and Wales next month.
Set 288 to win, Matt Cross and Kyle Coetzer’s twin centuries in a double-century opening stand laid the foundation for a superb chase. They passed Sri Lanka’s 287 for the loss of only three wickets and with more than seven overs to spare.
Earlier in the day, Angelo Mathews won the toss and elected to bat on a helpful batting surface. After the loss of two early wickets, Kusal Perera made the initial running, hitting a typically aggressive 57 off 59 balls and combining for a 77-run partnership with Dinesh Chandimal, who scored with 79.
Chandimal’s innings featured a mixture of hard-hitting and improvised strokes; the highlight a reverse sweep for six before a ramp shot brought up his 50.
His dismissal, one of Cross’s four catches behind the wicket, threatened to break open proceedings at 192-5, but Chamara Kapugedera kicked the innings into overdrive. His 50-ball 71 featured four sixes, as he shared in an 82-run stand for the sixth wicket with Asela Gunaratne.
After Kapugedera’s dismissal, the Sri Lankan innings quickly slid away towards the end; the last five wickets falling for 13 runs to be bowled out for 287 just inside their 50 overs.
That they fell just short of 300 despite being initially well-set, was due to the Scots’ ability to take wickets at steady intervals. Sussex seamer Stuart Whittingham bowled accurately on debut and was rewarded with 3 wickets, while his seam partner Alasdair Evans captured just as many. Young left-arm spinner Mark Watt bowled a tidy spell through the middle, conceding only 41 runs in his ten overs.
The Scottish reply was unequivocal, led by the keeper Cross and Coetzer, who previously had scored Scotland’s first hundred at a World Cup, at Nelson back in 2015.
Any ideas the Sri Lankan’s had about repeating their previous meeting with Scotland, when they thrashed them by 148 runs at Hobart at the World Cup, were quickly put to rest. Cross started proceedings with an exquisite cut through point, followed by a beautiful leg glance over square leg for six. Coetzer, in particular, looked at ease, playing handsomely off the backfoot and accounting for the Sri Lankan bowlers quite comfortably. This was a pleasantly surprising approach from Scotland, more renowned for cautiously approaching steep targets and accumulating runs without putting up a real fight, something not lost on Coetzer. “So often in the past we would have maybe gone within our shell and not felt as if we were up to the task. But going out and trying to put them on the back foot showed we were” he said afterwards.
Nothing illustrated this more than Coetzer’s approach to the crease as he hurtled towards his century, which featured 84 runs in boundaries alone. None of the Sri Lankan bowlers were spared; with the exception of Suranga Lakmal, all had economy rates of greater than six-per-over. By the time Coetzer had been dismissed, for 118 off 84 balls, caught by Mathews off the bowling of Thisara Perera, Scotland already had 201 on the board. Despite Callum Mcleod and Richie Berrington falling as the target came within sight, Cross and stand-in captain Con de Lange (19 not out) piloted Scotland to the finish line. Cross made it a day to remember by hitting the winning runs alongside his first century for Scotland.
“It was just one of those days, if it goes your way, you’ve just got to keep riding the wave, keep taking the attack to them and putting them on the back foot,” Coetzer said. Coetzer praised the Scotland bowling effort, after they kept Sri Lanka below 300. “It’s been a great day,” he said. “Turned up, the sun was shining – so that was the first win – and thankfully we played a good game of cricket. We restricted them in the field and kept them below 300, which was a really, really outstanding performance”.
Indeed, the sun was shining on Scotland, ironically coinciding with the clouds which hovered over Ireland in their 190-run trouncing to New Zealand at Malahide. The Scots have been an improved side since the World Cup, and this result is a product of these developments, playing a brand of cricket that coach Grant Bradburn would be very satisfied with.
Team Sri Lanka are a shadow of the team that made the World Cup final back in 2011, the team that was defeated still featured the likes of Mathews, Chandimal and Thisara Perera, alongside other players with enough international experience.
And as Cross and Coetzer exposed during this match, with the seamers conceding 160 runs combined in their 25 overs bowled, the Sri Lankan side still appears in dire need of a bowling spearhead to fill the void left by the injury-prone Lasith Malinga. While Malinga was on IPL duties for Mumbai and will return to the side for the Champions Trophy, his effectiveness given his time out of the game remains to be seen and the other arms of the pace attack will need to step up. Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep and Nuwan Kulasekara will have a lot of work to do on wickets which will assist the seamers early on.
