Central Province complete world-record run-chase

Central Province 173 and 513 for 9 (S Fernando 111, Sangakkara 101) beat Southern Province 392 and 292 by 1 wicket
Scorecard

If 2003 was the year of the bat with huge scores being piled up all round the world, then 2004 started in the same vein as another batting record was smashed in Sri Lanka's domestic first-class tournament on Tuesday.

When Marvan Atapattu, the captain of Southern Province, declared against Central Province with a lead of 511 runs, you could have accused him of being over-cautious. However, in just under four sessions, and finishing nine wickets down, the Central Province batsmen bulldozed their way to a record fourth-innings run-chase. Their mammoth innings of 513 for 9 beat the previous record held by Cambridge University, who scored 507 for 7 against MCC way back in 1896.

The match took place at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy, where England recently declined the opportunity to pursue a national-record 368 for victory over Sri Lanka. They might now be regretting their caution. CP resumed the day on 292 for 2, with Sajith Fernando and Hasantha Fernando well set. The Fernandos blazed a stand of 198 in all before Kumar Sangakkara, the Test wicketkeeper-batsman, got in on the act with a quickfire 101, including 13 fours and a six. He added a further 140 with his international team-mate, Thilan Samaraweera, and CP were well on course to smash the record.

However, they did have some anxious moments on the way. From being at 340 for 3 at tea, and requiring a further 172, the game then changed dramatically as wickets started to tumble. They lost their next five batsmen for 84 runs, and when the last pair of Nuwan Zoysa and Ruchira Perera came together in fading light, they still needed 23 runs with three overs remaining.

Zoysa, though, kept his cool to emerge as the hero. Facing Lasith Malinga, he walloped 13 runs from four balls to take Central Province to their record-breaking score and to the top of the table.