Pathirana smashes 277 in Twenty20 onslaught

Dhanuka Pathirana: 29 sixes and 18 fours in his onslaught © Cricinfo

Sri Lankan first-class player Dhanuka Pathirana scored a remarkable 277 off 72 balls in a Twenty20 match in Lancashire's Saddleworth League to steer his Austerlands side to 366 for 2 and an easy win over Droylsden. Pathirana smashed 29 sixes and 18 fours in his onslaught.

"Everything seemed to hit the middle," Pathirana, who had to borrow a bat as he had left his at home, said. "I was seeing it like a football. It was like a dream ... I think I did some serious damage to some of the vehicles in the car park."

"It was unbelievable," Austerlands' Andy Young told the Manchester Evening News. "Dhanuka normally bats at No. 3 but we needed to up our run rate to reach the semi-finals, so we asked him to open and said to him: 'Just go for it'. And he certainly did.

"It was scary to watch and it wasn't on one of the smaller grounds in our league. He is one of those guys who we always knew was capable of a massive innings, but this was incredible."