Sri Lanka cruise to 210-run win over Canada

The Lions put themselves in charge from the beginning as Jayawardene’s century off just 81 balls laid the foundation – after opener Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 50 – which was backed up by a 179-run third-wicket stand he shared with Sangakkara (92).

The 333-run target was always likely to prove too tough for minnows Canada and so it proved as their top half crumbled for 53 – with Thisara Perera and Nuwan Kulasekara grabbing three wickets apiece – and they eventually ended with just 122 on the board.

Wicketkeeper Sangakkara himself finished with three catches and a stumping to complete a superb individual performance, but the skipper believed it was the batting that paved the way for the seventh largest World Cup win.

“It was all set up by the openers,” Sangakkara said.

“They batted very well and gave us a solid start. Dilshan got a half-century but unfortunately couldn’t kick on.

“But the real star was Mahela Jayawardene; it was very easy to bat with him. Once we got that foundation and that solidity, we were able to launch and go beyond 300.

“Wickets like this when you haven’t played before, it’s nice to get an idea of what’s going on. To see what areas you can score and what bowlers you can score off.

“So I took a bit of time with my innings and then Mahela came in and brought the momentum back.”

Canada, on the other hand, were in no doubt as to the enormity of the challenge even before a ball had been bowled, but skipper Ashish Bagai was happy to be taking a few positives, while acknowledging the impact that Jayawardene and Sangakkara had on the game.

“It was always going to be a tough task,” Bagai said. “But I thought we bowled well in the first 26 overs where we managed to keep them under five runs an over.

“And then two world class players took the game away from us. So 333 was always going to be a tough ask.”

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori saluted his fast bowlers after an emphatic 10-wicket victory as they bundled out Kenya for 69 in their opening match of the World Cup in Chennai.

Hamish Bennett (4-16), Jacob Oram (3-2) and Tim Southee (3-13) skittled Kenya who folded up inside 24 overs.

New Zealand wasted little time in rattling off the required runs with Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum remaining unbeaten on 39 and 26 respectively.

“The wicket had a bit of variable bounce, which our seamers exploited,” beamed captain Vettori.