Kulasekara shines as Sri Lanka beats Ireland in 1st ODI

Wednesday, 7 May 2014 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

All rounder Nuwan Kulasekara excelled yesterday as Sri Lanka comfortably defeated Ireland by 79 runs in the 50 ODI match played at Dublin. Batting first, Sri Lanka scored 219 for the loss of 8 wickets in its 590 overs. Kulasekara top scored with an unbeaten 42 off 34 balls. He hammered two sixes and three 4s. He and Ajantha Mendis put an unbroken partnership of 43 runs for the eighth wicket.

However Ajantha Mendis who scored 18 not out and took 3 for 27 was declared Man of the Match as his spell caused all sorts of problems. Earlier on Upul Tharanga (24), Dinesh Chandimal (39), Anjelo Mathews (30) and S. Piyanjan (31) made useful contribution. In reply, Ireland could only muster 140 runs as they were bowled out in 39.5 overs. Captain W.T.S. Porterfield scored 37 off 87 balls and N.J. O’Brien scored 33 of 39 balls. Irish tail-enders did well to post double figures. For Sri Lanka Kulasekara took 2 for 30 and Suranga Lakmal took 3 for 29. Sri Lana leads the two match series 1-0. The second ODI will be played on Thursday.