Suriyaarachchi leads Sri Lanka to a seven-wicket win
Staff Reporter - 11 December 2002
Sri Lanka at last notched up a win, but it came a tad too late in the day for them to qualify. Despite their seven-wicket win in Wednesday's final league match against England, the men from Emerald Isles will have to catch the flight back home after ending up bottom of the table in the 2002 Blind World Cup.
In the morning, England captain Adam Benjamin won the toss and elected to bat. Nathan Foy, who has been the most prolific scorer in the tournament, again opened the innings. His relative failure - he made just 24 - though meant that England were to be restricted to a manageable total. They only reached 262 thanks to fifties from Benjamin (53) and Mark Pickup (67). For Sri Lanka, Rajpakshe claimed two wickets for 42 runs.
His efforts were rewarded when his skipper CK Suriyaarachchi (94* off 97 balls) stayed around to guide the Sri Lankan team past the England total. Opener RMUD Lakshan, who made 57, provided him good support for the major part of the innings.
Suriyaarachchi was named Man of the Match for his role in scripting his side's seven-wicket win that secured them four points.
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