Sri Lanka vs. Afghanistan: Highlights, Scorecard, Report from Cricket World Cup

Afghanistan gave Sri Lanka a real fright at the Cricket World Cup before succumbing to a four-wicket defeat in Dunedin on Sunday.

The Associate Nation made 232 after being put into bat at the University Oval, and they then reduced the 1996 champions to 18-3 in their reply.

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Ahmadi	c Herath	b Lakmal	24	41	23	4	0
Mangal	c Thirimanne	b Mathews	10	34	30	1	0
Stanikzai	c J Mendis	b Herath	54	78	57	5	1
Shenwari	c Mathews	b T Perera	38	91	70	5	0
Nabi		b Malinga	21	32	27	2	1
N Zadran	c T Perera	b Lakmal	10	25	15	0	1
Zazai	c Herath	b Malinga	19	62	38	1	0
Ashraf	c Lakmal	b Malinga	28	38	32	1	2
D Zadran		b Mathews	4	3	5	1	0
Hassan	c J Mendis	b Mathews	0		1	0	0
S Zadran	not out		1	3	1	0	0
Extras		1nb 16w 0b 6lb	23
Bowler			Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Malinga			9.4	1	41	3
Lakmal			10	1	36	2
Mathews			7	0	41	3
T Perera			10	0	54	1
Herath			10	0	41	1
J Mendis			3	0	13	0

However, veteran Mahela Jayawardene came to the rescue with a century and they reached the target with 10 balls to spare.

			Runs	Minutes	Balls	4s	6s
Thirimanne	lbw	b D Zadran	0		1	0	0
Dilshan	c Zazai	b S Zadran	0	6	1	0	0
Sangakkara		b Hassan	7	26	13	1	0
Karunaratne	c Mangal	b Hassan	23	46	32	3	0
M Jayawardene	c Mangal	b Hassan	100	146	120	8	1
Mathews	run out (Nabi)		44	113	81	2	0
J Mendis	not out		9	36	17	0	0
T Perera	not out		47	31	26	6	1
Extras		1nb 3w 0b 2lb	6
Bowler			Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
D Zadran			9	0	44	1
S Zadran			10	1	48	1
Hassan			9	0	45	3
Ashraf			8.1	0	31	0
Nabi			5.2	0	28	0
Stanikzai			0.5	0	6	0
Shenwari			6	0	32	0

The Afghan top order was blown away when they were thrashed by Bangladesh in their first match but Asghar Stanikzai made 54 as they reached 128-2 after 27 overs.

There were contributions all the way through the order but wickets fell at regular intervals with Lasith Malinga taking out the middle order to finish with 3-41.

Captain Angelo Mathews also chipped in with three wickets as the minnows were all out two balls shy of their allocated 50 overs.

Sri Lanka’s batsmen had eight long days to reflect on their heavy loss to New Zealand in the opening match of the tournament, but the top three were dismissed inside six overs.

Openers Lahiru Thirimanne and Tillakaratne Dilshan suffered first ball ducks and then lynchpin Kumar Sangakkara was bowled through the gate by Hamid Hassan after making just seven.

When Dimuth Karunaratne (23) became Hassan’s second victim in the 12th over the team who have played in the last two finals were just thinking about avoiding an upset rather than improving their net run rate.

Jayawardene, the 37-year-old stalwart, was the man for the occasion as he shared a 126-run partnership with Mathews despite the unusual sight of his bat snapping.

"

Laughing every time I watch this #SLvsAFG https://t.co/K3RtvlRQ0l”

— Avikal Chhetri (@vulcan_didactic) February 22, 2015"

Mathews was run out for 44 in the 41st over but Jayawardene brought up his 19th ODI century two balls later off 118 balls.

However, there was a twist as Jayawardene failed to add to his 100, caught at fine leg as Hassan picked up a third wicket, to leave the Twenty20 world champions needing 54 off 52 balls.

Thisara Perera saw Sri Lanka home with 47 from 26 balls, thumping Mohammad Nabi through the covers for the winning runs in the penultimate over.