Sri Lanka smashed their way into the world record books today as they sent woeful Canada crashing to 36 all out - the lowest ever score in one-day cricket history.

Sanath Jayasuriya's men cruised to a nine-wicket win at Paarl, the shortest ever game in the 28-year history of the tournament.

While Sri Lanka were completing victory in less than two hours, their Asian rivals India were easing the pressure on themselves in Harare as under-fire captain Sourav Ganguly grabbed three wickets in six balls to resurrect his team's campaign and lift the mood of millions of fans back home.

Zimbabwe were bowled out for 172 in 44.4 overs after Sachin Tendulkar's 81 had steered them to 255-7 in a match India had to win to stay in contention for a place in the Super Six.

India's emphatic 83-run win will help restore calm in the cricket-crazy country after fans mounted angry protests at the dismal performance in the first two matches when the batsmen failed to last 50 overs against the Netherlands and were shot out for 125 by reigning champions Australia.

In Port Elizabeth, England scraped a victory against minnows Namibia by 55 runs after being given a huge fright by the Africans.

In Paarl, Chaminda Vaas took three wickets and fellow opening bowler Prabath Nissanka four as Canada were bowled out in just 18.4 overs.

"It's very disappointing to lose like that," said Canada skipper Joe Harris, who was joint top scorer with nine.

"We were playing one of the best sides in the world but the wicket was a decent track on which to bat. We just let the pressure get to us."

Sri Lanka knocked off the winning runs in just 4.4 overs although in-form captain Sanath Jayasuriya failed for the first time in the tournament when he was leg-before wicket to Sanjay Thuraisingam for nine.

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