In becoming the first man in history of One-Day Internationals to score centuries in four successive innings, the 37-year-old Sri Lankan veteran together with opener Tillakaratne Dilshan (104) helped the team put up a mammoth 363 for nine after electing to bat at the Bellerive Oval.
Set a daunting target in the group A match, Scotland’s innings ended at 215 in 43.1 overs, and the minnows have another match to play in the mega-event where they have failed to win a single game so far.
Sri Lanka are now second in the points table, behind New Zealand, with four wins in six games. However, the final positions in the group will be known only after the New Zealand-Bangladesh and Australia-Scotland games.
The 195-run partnership for the second wicket was Sangakkara and Dilshan’s 20th century stand in ODIs, leaving them second only to Indian legends Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
Playing in the last one-day tournament of his illustrious 15-year career, Sangakkara, in red-hot form in the mega-event, blazed his way to an enterprising 124 off 95 balls, while Dilshan struck a 99-ball 104.
Skipper Angelo Mathews (51) smashed the second-fastest half-century of this World Cup, off 20 balls. The Islanders though lost a series of wickets towards the end, denying them a 400-plus total.
The Scots were off to a disastrous start, losing three wickets with just 44 runs on the board in the 12th over. The game was as good at that point but Freddie Coleman (70) and skipper Preston Mommsen (60) shared 118 runs for the fourth wicket to steady the ship.
However, both batsmen got out after making fluent half-centuries, each hitting seven boundaries while defying the Lankan bowlers for a while.
Striking four sixes against off-spinner Matt Machan in the 44th over, Mathews recorded the second fastest World Cup fifty after New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum’s 18-ball half-century against England.
The last-wicket pair of Nuwan Kulasekara (18 not out) and Dushmantha Chameera (12 not out) also did their bit.
