Sri Lanka chose the first pitch and limited Zimbabwe to 165 outs for 32.2 ounces as off-spinner Mahish Thackshana posted career-best numbers of 4-25 and Dilshan Madushanka made 3-15.

Sri Lanka didn’t look troubled in their reply and reached their target with 101 balls remaining, and Nisanka notched his second century at the One-Day International with 102 balls and led his team to victory.

We knew we were going to qualify for the World Cup with the team we had, said Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka at the post-match presentation.

I have to give credit to the other teams, they played very well in the tournament. Some teams gave us a good fight, but we were the better side.

It’s a great accomplishment (to get to the world championships), and you know what we’ve accomplished in the past at world championships. It’s a big deal for Sri Lanka to play on such a big stage.

Sri Lanka has participated in every World Cup and won in 1996 by beating Australia in the final.

Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams said they would take the result for granted and were looking forward to playing Scotland. I don’t think we have to prepare any differently than we have done in this tournament, he said. We’ve played some very good cricket. It’s just that Sri Lanka were much better than us today.

The two-time West Indies winners failed to qualify for the first time, losing to Scotland in a Harare qualifier.