Colombo, March 29:Despite being the semi-final of the World Cup, the game between Sri Lanka and New Zealand produced little when it came to excitement. That is till a late flutter caused an eminently reachable target appear daunting to the hosts. Home supporters will, however, not be complaining, as their team ended with a five-wicket victory to enter into a World Cup final for the second time in a row.
Chasing 218 in their own den – the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo – was never going to be a Herculean task for the hosts and though they lost five wickets on their way thanks to an attack of nerves, in the end it was done comfortably. A 120-run stand for the second wicket between Tillakaratne Dilshan (73) and Kumar Sangakkara (54), had, for all practical purposes, already sealed the match in the hosts’ favour.
While Dilshan was sedate as per his standards, his opening partner Upul Tharanga (30) played the aggressor. After launching the third delivery of the innings from Nathan McCullum into the stands, he drove Tim Southee with power and panache for two consecutive fours, through the covers and past mid-off. The bowler, however, had the last laugh, thanks to an airborne Jesse Ryder at point, who held a stunner.
The skipper then joined hands with Dilshan and together they steadied the Lankan ship after the early jitter. They went about their task in an unhurried and clinical fashion, piercing the field for singles and twos. The pressure got to the Kiwi bowlers, who started spraying it all over the place. The short and wayward bowling enabled Dilshan to play some delightful strokes – the mid-wicket heaves, the pulls, the cuts and the flicks – to fetch his 10 boundaries and a six.
Sangakkara, on the other hand, was an epitome of grace. His immaculately timed and placed cover-drives were the work of an artist and when he danced down the track to send the ball sailing over McCullum’s head for a six, it was the perfect mixture of style and substance.
The Kiwis had a slight opportunity to get back into the game with the twin wickets of Dilshan (caught by Ryder at point off Southee) and Mahela Jayawardene (lbw by Daniel Vettori) in the span of four balls. But by that time, it was too late to entertain any chance of an upset with the home team needing 58 from 104 balls. Sangakkara too departed after scoring a classy half-century and was followed by Chamara Silva. In the end, Thilan Samaraweera (23*) and Angelo Mathews (14*) finished off the job with 13 balls to spare. Tim Southee was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers with figures of three for 57.
The platform of the Lankan victory was laid by the bowlers, who had the Kiwi innings in control right through. Both Brendon McCullum (13) and Martin Guptill (39) showed promise with some powerful shots early on but in the end, flattered to deceive. McCullum was bowled by Rangana Herath while Guptill stood helpless as a searing toe-crusher from Lasith Malinga wrecked his stumps. Somewhere in the middle, Jesse Ryder (19) came, played a couple of lovely shots and made his way back into the hut.
Scott Styris (57) then forged a lone battle with brief company from Ross Taylor (36) and Kane Williamson (22). He made most of even the slightest of error in line by Malinga by driving him through the covers, mid-wicket and straight to fetch four of his five boundaries. Ajantha Mendis ended the 77-run partnership between Styris and Taylor by dismissing the latter in the 40th over. After Williamson was wrapped on his pads by Malinga in the 44th over, the Kiwi innings imploded. Their last six wickets went down for 25 runs as Malinga once again presented the perfect demonstration of ‘how to bowl in the death overs.’ The canny mixture of yorkers and slower-ones was too hot for the New Zealander to handle and the Slinger finished with figures of three wickets in his nine overs, albeit at a little expensive rate of over six.
Mendis was the pick of the Lankan bowlers, beguiling the Kiwi batsmen with his variations and picking three wickets for 35 off his 9.5 overs. But much attention was lavished on the national icon Muttiah Muralitharan who was appearing in his last home game ever. The darling of the crowds over a long career, he even managed to snare a wicket off his last ever delivery at the Premadasa, providing a picture-perfect end to a resplendent home career.
Brief scores:Sri Lanka 220-5 in 47.5 overs (TM Dilshan 73, K Sangakkara 54, Tim Southee 3-57) beat New Zealand 217 all-out in 48.5 overs (Scott Styris 57, BAW Mendis 3-35, Malinga 3-55) by five wickets with 13 balls to spare.
Man-of-the-match: Kumar Sangakkara for scoring 54 runs off 79 balls and taking three catches behind the wicket.
