Mendis magic sees Lanka into semis

Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting

Sri Lanka made a spectacular entry into the semi-finals with a smashing 48-run victory over New Zealand in their International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20 World Cup Super Eight match played here today.

Sri Lanka rattled up a competitive 158 for 5 after having elected to bat first and then skittle out the Kiwis for just 110 runs from 17 overs.

The Lankans went on to top their group with maximum of six points and a net run rate of +1.28.

Man of the match Ajantha Mendis produced a magnificent spell of bowling to claim three wickets for nine runs after the New Zealand top order had really threatened to take control of the situation.

Sri Lanka of course went into this game under tremendous pressure and were faced with a must win situation after their narrow victory over Ireland on Sunday.

But they rose to the occasion with a superb all-round performance and were able to maintain their unbeaten record in the tournament.

Sri Lanka’s total of 158 for 5 turned out to be a match winning score as New Zealand lost half of their side for 93 runs.

The only major threat of course came from middle order batsman Guptill who hit a top score of 43 from 34 deliveries and Redmond to a great extent.

Apart from this short period of time where New Zealand were well ahead of the asking rate Sri Lanka were very much in control of the situation as their spinners brought them back into the game with a remarkable performance. Mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis led the way with a controlled spell of bowling where he made the batsmen guessing all the time with his clever variation.

Ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya then provided excellent support by claiming a wicket each.

The other major contribution for Sri Lanka came from the new boy Isuru Udana who produced an improved performance to pick up two key wickets in the New Zealand innings.

The left arm seamer who replaced Nuwan Kulasekera from the previous game got his act together from the start and really made run making difficult for the opposition.

Sri Lanka of course got off to a disappointing start with the early dismissal of veteran Sanath Jayasuriya.

This setback in the very first over of the innings certainly shattered their hopes of piling up a much bigger total from their 20 overs.

However, the inform batsman Tillekeratne Dilshan kept the momentum in the Sri Lankan innings with another classic batting performance and also became the first batsman to top the two hundred run mark in this tournament.

But the disappointment was that they lost a wicket every time they were beginning to build up a partnership and that prevented them from making a score of over 175 runs.

Even then skipper Kumar Sangakkara made a solid contribution and former captain Mahela Jayawardena added the finishing touches with an unbeaten knock of 41.

In fact Dilshan and Sangakkara put on 62 runs for the third wicket but it was Jayawardena’s effort that really took them pass the 150 run mark at the end.

Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Tuesday

SRI LANKA

T. Dilshan c B. McCullum b Vettori	48
S. Jayasuriya c Taylor b N. McCullum	 0
C. Silva c Oram b Mills			13
K. Sangakkara c Styris b Vettori	35
M. Jayawardene not out			41
J. Mubarak lbw b Butler			 8
A. Mathews not out			 6

Extras: (b1, lb1, w4, nb1)		 7
TOTAL (for 5 wkts)			158

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-25, 3-87, 4-137, 5-147.
Bowling: N. McCullum 4-0-22-1, Mills 4-0-41-1 (w1), Oram 4-0-23-0, Butler 3-0-29-1,
	 Vettori 4-0-32-2 (w3, nb1), Styris 1-0-9-0.

NEW ZEALAND

B. McCullum c Mubarak b Udana		10
A. Redmond c Muralitharan b Malinga	23
M. Guptill c Mathews b Jayasuriya	43
R. Taylor st Sangakkara b Mendis	 8
S. Styris b Mendis			 2
J. Oram b Udana				 7
P. McGlashan c Mubarak b Mendis		 2
N. McCullum run out		 	 2
D. Vettori c Malinga b Muralitharan	 3
K. Mills not out			 4
I. Butler run out			 2

Extras: (lb1, w3)			 4
TOTAL (all out, 17 overs)		110
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-39, 3-64, 4-66, 5-93, 6-95, 7-98, 8-100, 9-102, 10-110.
Bowling: Udana 3-0-17-2, Jayasuriya 3-0-28-1, Muralitharan 4-0-18-1,
 Malinga 3-0-26-1 (w2), Mendis 3-0-9-3, Dilshan 1-0-11-0 (w1).