Vaas starts rout with historic hat-trick

Chaminda Vaas made cricket history with a hat-trick off the first three balls as Sri Lanka cruised to a 10 wicket victory over Bangladesh on Friday to race to the top of its World Cup group.

While the International Cricket Council had another lengthy meeting to decide what to do with the already canceled Zimbabwe-England match, the only action was at Pietmaritzburg and it didn't take very long.Vaas took four wickets in the first over as Bangladeshi batsmen Hannan Sarker, Mohammed Asharful, Ehsanul Haque and Sanwar Hossain walked back to the pavilion in procession.

He then came back to remove Al Shahriar and Mashrafee Mortaza to complete a haul of six for 25 - the third best figures in World Cup history - while spin star Muttiah Muralitharan, not to be outdone, took three for 25.If it hadn't been for a last wicket stand of 26 between Mortaza, who made 28, and Manjurul Islam, three not out, Bangladesh wouldn't have made it past 100.

Instead the Sri Lankans were left an easy target of 125 and openers Marvan Atapattu, 69 not out, Janath Jayasuriya (55) got there in 22.1 overs. After his 120 against New Zealand on Monday, Jayasuriya now has an average of 175.

The victory, following the 47-run triumph over the Kiwis, means that Sri Lanka now tops Group B with eight points and is the only team so far to have won two matches.

"It's a good feeling to start the World Cup with two convincing wins," team captain Jayasuriya said. "We've got two relatively easy matches coming up (against Canada and Kenya), but we're preparing for the tougher test ahead (against West Indies and South Africa)."

Vaas said he was unaware of the record and didn't want to make a big deal of it.

"I just tried to put the ball in the right spot to get the wicket and I did it," he said of the hat-trick ball. "I'm not worried about records. As long as I'm fit I want to do well."