Colombo: Sri Lankan opener Marvan Atapattu returned to form with a solid 101 against an inexperienced Netherlands side in the Champions Trophy One-day cricket tournament here on Monday.
Atapattu struck eight fours in his sixth century as Sri Lanka posted 292 for six after electing to bat in the day-night match at the Premadasa Stadium.
The Sri Lankan batsman, who scored eight against Pakistan in the previous match, was never tested by the Dutch who was playing only its sixth One-day International. The Netherlands, who played its last big game in the 1996 World Cup, qualified for this event after winning last year's ICC Trophy in Canada in a tournament played among associate members of the sport's world governing body. The current team had only four cricketers with experience of playing One-day Internationals. The Dutch did not fare badly in its opening match, considering its inexperience. It fielded enthusiastically and bowled well in patches to make things a bit difficult for the Sri Lankans. Medium-pacer Roland Lefebvre and off spinner Adeel Raja shared four wickets, while fielder Bas Zuiderent ran Mahela Jayawardene (14) out with a direct throw. Atapattu was the only batsman to play a long innings, putting on 59 for the opening wicket with skipper Sanath Jayasuriya (36) and 116 for the next with Kumar Sangakkara (41). Sangakkara also needed runs ahead of the semi-finals, having failed to score against Pakistan. He spent valuable time in the middle, hitting five fours in his 68-ball knock.
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