Sri Lanka squander winning opportunity

WELLINGTON, Friday (AFP) - Sri Lanka's dream of a return to winning cricket was shattered on Friday when their batsmen squandered a great bowling performance by Chaminda Vaas to lose to New Zealand by 21 runs.

Shane Bond and Jeetan Patel were the bowling heroes for the home side as they pulled off an unlikely victory to go 4-0 up in the five-match series of one-day internationals.

After being nicely set up by Vaas, who bagged a five wicket haul as New Zealand were restricted to a low score of 224 for nine, the Sri Lankan batsmen made a flying start.

At 136 for three in the 27th over a Sri Lankan victory appeared likely, but it all went wrong for the visitors as they lost the last seven wickets for 67 runs to be all out with 20 balls remaining.

They were still in the game, and ahead of the run rate, in the 39th over when a two-wicket blitz in three balls by Bond removed the last of the recognised batsmen and exposed Sri Lanka's fragile tail.

"After the start we got from (Jehan) Mubarak and (Kumar) Sangakkara we let ourselves down in a big way ... 225 was a gettable total," said a disappointed Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu.

But it was a vital bowling performance for New Zealand after the batsmen fell 20-30 runs short of what was achievable, said captain Stephen Fleming.

"We probably weren't as good with the bat as we needed to be and that's part of the area we need to develop, but we were gutsy enough to defend the score," he said.

"Bondy did what we needed him to do. He came in and bowled fast and turned the game in our favour."

While Bond did the damage at one end finishing with three for 39, off-spinner and man-of-the-match Jeetan Patel, playing only his fourth one-day international, baffled the Sri Lankans at the other taking two wickets and giving away only 23 runs.

With New Zealand already holding an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the series before the match, captain Stephen Fleming decided to experiment on winning the toss and elected to bat first.

New Zealand typically prefer to chase totals and faced with the unusual situation of setting a target they struggled for momentum.

Peter Fulton and Hamish Marshall both made half-centuries to anchor the New Zealand innings, and Fleming made 37, but the rest of the top order failed to fire.

Only a late flurry from tailenders James Franklin and Shane Bond, who defied the Sri Lankan attack for seven overs and put on 35 runs, saved New Zealand from total embarrassment as left-arm seamer Vaas finished with five for 39.

Sri Lanka's chase stumbled early when Upul Tharanga failed to carry on from his century in the last match and edged Franklin to Brendon McCullum in the third over. Sangakkara then picked up the tempo and showed glimpses of why he's rated among the top 10 one-day batsmen in the world.

The left-hander powered to his 24th one-day half-century in 44 balls with nine boundaries, but then immediately fell to a slower delivery from Chris Cairns.

Sangakkara and opener Jehan Mubarak posted 76 for the second wicket, and Mubarak also pushed on for his 50 but fell to Patel soon after.

Atapattu seemed in two minds whether to keep the attack going, or consolidate the innings, and in the end he tamely chipped Daniel Vettori to Lou Vincent at cover to be out for 19.

With his dismissal, the life went from the Sri Lankan innings.

NEW ZEALAND

L. Vincent c Muralitharan b Fernando      8
J. How c Sangakkara b Vaas             	  5
S. Fleming b Vaas                      	 37
P. Fulton c Maharoof b Fernando          50
H. Marshall c Vaas b Maharoof         	 50
S. Styris c Maharoof b Vaas            	 13
C. Cairns c and b Vaas                 	  2
B. McCullum c Arnold b Vaas               1
D. Vettori b Muralitharan              	  7
J. Franklin not out                  	 29
S. Bond not out                        	  9
Extras (lb 5, w 4, nb 4)               	 13

TOTAL (9 wkts)                         	224

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-14, 2-14, 3-85, 4-131, 5-154, 
6-163, 7-165, 8-183, 9-189
BOWLING: Vaas 10-1-39-5 (3nb 1w),
 Fernando 10-1-51-2 (1nb, 1w), Maharoof 10-0-49-1 (1w), 
Dilshan 10-0-37-0, Muralitharan 10-0-43-1 (1w) 

SRI LANKA

U. Tharanga c McCullum b Franklin      	 9
J. Mubarak c Cairns b Patel            	 53
K. Sangakkara b Cairns                 	 52
M. Jayawardene c McCullum b Franklin   	 12
M. Atapattu c Vincent b Vettori          19
T. Dilshan b Bond                        17
R. Arnold lbw Patel                      11
F. Maharoof lbw Bond                 	   0
C. Vaas c How by Styris                   9
M. Bandara c Styris b Bond               12
D. Fernando not out                       4
Extras (lb 3, nb 2)                  	 5

TOTAL (all out)                       	  203
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16, 2-92, 3-106, 4-136, 
5-156, 6-171, 7-171, 8-184, 9-189, 10-203
BOWLING: Franklin 7-1-38-2 (1nb), 
Bond 9.4-1-39-3 (1nb), Cairns 6-0-28-1, 
Styris 4-0-22-1, Vettori 10-0-50-1, Patel 10-0-23-2
Toss: New Zealand
Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL), Darrell Hair (AUS)
Match Referee: Alan Hurst (AUS)
New Zealand lead five-match series 4-0