9.51pm And on that note, it's goodbye from us. Stay tuned for post-match reaction, and keep your ear cocked for the climax of this preliminary stage. It's getting hot at the top!

Andrew Balbirnie: "Started the week well with a good performance against the Dutch... if we'd lost that game we'd have been playing catch up, but a big game on Friday now, all to play for. Josh Little is a real find for us, had them in trouble, but they took it away from us in the middle though we clawed it back well. He has new ball skills to attack the stumps, hopefully he can continue that on Friday and into next week. Those are the games you want to play, the big knock-outs. It's a big deal for us as players, and for friends and families. Hopefully a lot of people tune in."

Dasun Shanaka "Of course it was a concern at 8 for 3, but they put on an awesome partnership. Hasaranga at 5 is a plan coming in at the World Cup and it worked well for us. Great luxury to have fast bowlers in the side, great credit goes to both of them and the coaches for the efforts in the nets. Have to look at top-order batting, but other areas are okay, though fielding has been poor as well."

Arjun V Ajith: "This win and massive run rate is probably going to hurt Srilanka. They are leading to Group 1 where they need to face Aus, Eng, WI, SA and most probably Bangladesh. " I reckon they'll just be glad to be involved after their struggles in recent times.

Nisala: "The world no.2 bowler saying he is a batsman who can ball. Wow! Wownidu!"

Wanindu Hasaranga is Player of the Match: "When I went in I was under pressure, but I rotated the first few balls, then I accelerated. I am a batting allrounder. Tired, with this heat." And in Sinhalese, he thanks the supporters as Sri Lanka book their place in the main draw.

CricDude: "SL is definitely a top 5 team in this tournament, mainly coz of its bowling attack. Batting is getting better. Surely the top order can't fail N number of times." To be fair, a number of teams in the main draw have good attacks. They need a total to defend to have success.

9.33pm And with that, Sri Lanka march into the main draw, with a very impressive victory. They had to recover from an abject 8 for 3, but did so in superb fashion through a brace of fifties from Hasaranga and Nissanka, before a dominant display with the ball. Despite some resistance from Balbirnie, Ireland's last six wickets tumbled for 16 in 5.5 overs...

Chamara Silva: "This win for SL means they are into the next stage and Netherlands is out of the tournament right?" It does indeed, because it's a straight knock-out between Ireland and Namibia now. Those two teams will finish with two and one wins each.

Sazid: "Meanwhile, Rassie's giving a heavy knock against PAK..." Gosh... never knew he had it in him...

Abizer Zohair: "Sri Lanka's Bowling was always good, now the battings turning up too. Exciting times!!" Quite a different vibe from their sorry series in England this summer. Then again, their bowling was fine on that trip. The batting, less so