Sri Lankan legend makes history with fourth consecutive one-day international century
Sangakkara makes it four in a row
Kumar Sangakkara's incredible farewell to one-day international cricket has continued, the Sri Lankan great becoming the first man in ODI history to score centuries in four consecutive matches.
The 37-year old passed three figures against Scotland in Hobart today to complement his scores of 105 not out against Bangladesh, 117 not out against England and 104 against Australia from earlier in the tournament.
I scored 4 100's in a row once...shame it was on the golf course! @KumarSanga2 congrats on 500+ WC record and runs,runs,runs #legend
— Adam Gilchrist (@gilly381) March 11, 2015
On Sunday, Sangakkara had become just the seventh man in history and the first in a World Cup to score three consecutive ODI centuries, and today he claimed the record for his own.
All four of his centuries have come at better than a run a ball.
The left-hander brought up his hundred against the Scots with a couple of runs to third man off the bowling of Kyle Coetzer.
He took 86 balls to reach the milestone and hit nine fours and three sixes.
He was eventually caught behind for 124 from 95 balls, with 13 fours and four sixes.
It is his 62 international century in an incredible career that is now in its 15th year.
The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman announced before the World Cup began that he would retire from ODI cricket at the end of the tournament.
While Sangakkara holds the record on his own, it's worth noting that South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs fell just three runs short of scoring four consecutive ODI hundreds back in 2002.
Gibbs finished unbeaten on 97 not out in South Africa's successful run chase of 155 against Bangladesh, falling agonisingly short of joining Sangakkara on four hundreds in as many matches.
Not content with run-scoring records, he passed Adam Gilchrist's record of 52 World Cup dismissals by taking the catch of a faint edge from Michael Leask.
By the end of the match he had taken 41 catches and 13 stumpings in World Cups. Gilchrist took 45 catches and seven stumpings in 31 World Cup matches (Sangakkara was playing his 36th).
He also became the first man to reach 500 one-day international dismissals as Sri Lanka eased to a comfortable victory over Scotland.