Edinburgh, May 22: Sri Lanka recorded a timely one-day international victory ahead of the Cricket World Cup as they beat Scotland in a rain-affected contest to end a seven-month winless run in the format.
Since beating England in a dead rubber in Colombo last October, Sri Lanka had suffered 3-0 and 5-0 whitewashes to New Zealand and South Africa respectively before arriving in Scotland for a two-match series, with the first game abandoned last weekend.
The weather played a part again at the Grange on Tuesday (May 21), but the Sri Lankans were still able to record a morale-boosting 35-run victory on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
Their top three - Avishka Fernando (74), captain Dimuth Karunaratne (77) and Kusal Mendis (66) - were all able to record half-centuries as they made 322-8 before Scotland were bowled out for 199 chasing a revised target of 235, seamer Nuwan Pradeep taking 4-34.
Congratulations to @OfficialSLC on today’s victory. 🇱🇰 #SCOvSL | #FollowScotland 🏴 pic.twitter.com/F62OPMpCH7
— Cricket Scotland (@CricketScotland) May 21, 2019
Fernando, who made his maiden ODI half-century, and Karunaratne, who made his second - eight years after his first against the same opponent - put on 123 for the first wicket, though Sri Lanka's skipper survived three chances before reaching the milestone.
The tourists were 204-2 in the 34th over when Karunaratne was finally dismissed and despite Mendis' fine contribution and Lahiru Thirimanne's 44 not out, a flurry of middle-order wickets prevented the final total from being greater.
Scotland's reply was punctuated by the elements, though both Matthew Cross (55) and George Munsey (61) made half-centuries, and they lost their last seven wickets for just 46 runs having been forced off for 90 minutes due to rain.