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Sri Lanka created new records in the short Twenty20 Cricket History with the biggest ever win of 172 that had come against a hapless Kenyan side at Wanderers. Mahela Jayawardene's team had the perfect beginning to the tournament with the batsmen cracking on all cylinders to put up a scorching 260 for 6, an innings run rate of 13.00! If Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene were murderous with their half centuries then there can be no lesser words said to Jehan Mubararak, the tall left hander finishing the innings with 46 from 13 balls with five towering sixes.

Kenya put Sri Lanka to bat first at Johannesburg where the ball simply keeps on flying a long distance because of the high altitude above sea level. Jayasuriya along with Sangakkara (30 from 18) gave the start for the Lankans taking them close to a hundred in the first ten overs. Both left handers put on 75 for the second wicket which was followed with an 87-run stand between Jayasuriya and Jayawardene. Both batsmen batted with all the freedom in the world, going for the fours and sixes every ball. Sanath was unlucky to miss out on a hundred as he perished after getting to 88 which had come in 44 balls with 11 fours and four sixes.

By the time Sanath was dismissed, Sri Lanka were already to a massive total of 181 with more than five overs left. Mahela with all his improvisation raced away to glory but missed the fastest fifty scored by Ashraful by just the one ball. Mahela's fifty came in 20 balls and he went onto make 65 from 27 with 9 fours and two sixes. A couple of wickets at this stage seemed to have pulled things back until Jehan Mubarak played the long handle with incredible effect. The Kenyan players struggled at the boundaries with their tired legs. There was also an ugly collision between Lameck Onyango and Thomas Odoyo which forced the latter to walk out of the park with an injury that ruled him out to take any further part in the match.

The Kenyan batsmen once again failed to put up anything decent and this time could get just 88. Chaminda Vaas made life tough for the batsmen and in his four overs was taken for just 15 runs at the cost of two wickets. Malinga chipped in with a couple of wickets in the 11th over and then the remaining bowlers chipped in regularly. The top scorer for Kenya was Alex Obanda with 21. The Man of the Match was given to Sanath Jayasuriya who also got 1 for 9 in 3 overs along with a run out to follow up his blistering 88, the same amount of runs that were scored by the entire Kenyan team!

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