New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 22 runs
Daniel Vettori’s New Zealand recorded their second Twenty20 success
over Sri Lanka in three days with a 22-run victory on Friday that helped
them sweep the two-match series.
The Kiwis, who won the first match on Wednesday by three runs, piled
up 170-4 after winning the toss and then restricted the World Twenty20
finalists to 148-8 under lights at the Premadasa stadium.
Fast bowler Shane Bond led the Black Caps charge with 3-18 in four
overs, while seamer Kyle Mills and off-spinner Nathan McCullum claimed
two wickets each.
The 2-0 win helped the Kiwis overcome the disappointment of losing
both the preceding Test matches and boosted their confidence ahead of a
tri-series, also featuring India, that opens here on Tuesday.
New Zealand’s innings revolved around an explosive opening stand of
84 in 10.2 overs by Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder after Vettori
called correctly for the second time in a row.
Left-handed Ryder smashed three sixes and as many fours in his 52 off
37 balls, while McCullum hit a 34-ball 49 with two sixes and four
boundaries.
Martin Guptill and Jacob Oram further boosted the total with a 43-run
stand for the fourth wicket in 27 balls, before Guptill was bowled by
Lasith Malinga off the final ball of the innings. Sri Lanka, chasing a
target of almost nine runs an over, made a disastrous start when they
were reduced to 2-2 off the first seven deliveries and slid to 11-3 soon
after.
Bond removed the in-form Tillakaratne Dilshan with his fifth ball,
caught at deep square leg, before Kyle Mills dismissed Mahela Udawatte
and Sanath Jayasuriya in successive overs.
Skipper Kumar Sangakkara and former captain Mahela Jayawardene put on
a brisk 67 for the fourth wicket when Nathan McCullum hit back with two
wickets in his first over.
The off-spinner, elder brother of Brendon McCullum had Jayawardene
caught at backward point by Ryder off his third delivery for 41 off 30
balls.
He then removed new batsman Angelo Mathews with the final delivery of
the innings to make Sri Lanka 80-5 in 11 overs. Sangakkara gave Jacob
Oram a return catch after making 69 before Bond sealed New Zealand’s win
with the wickets of all-rounder Gihan Rupasinghe and tailender Nuwan
Kulasekara.
Earlier, McCullum and Ryder bulldozed the Sri Lankan attack for the
first 10 overs, racing to 83 runs without being separated.
Jayasuriya broke the stand in the 11th over when he beat McCullum in
the air and the batsman offered a simple return catch.
Ryder took over after McCullum’s departure, striking two sixes and a
boundary in the 12th over sent down by Dilshan which yielded 20 runs.
Jayasuriya finished with 2-22 and Ajantha Mendis took 1-21, while
pace spearhead Kulasekara went for 40 runs in four wicketless overs.
COLOMBO, AFP
NEW ZEALAND
B. McCullum c and b Jayasuriya 49
J. Ryder c Rupasinghe b Mendis 52
R. Taylor lbw b Jayasuriya 16
M. Guptill b Malinga 32
J. Oram not out 17
Extras: (lb2, w1, nb1) 4
Total (for 4 wkts, 20 overs) 170
Did not bat: Neil Broom, Nathan McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Ian Butler, Shane Bond, Kyle Mills.
Fall of wickets: 1-84 (B. McCullum), 2-109 (Ryder), 3-127 (Taylor), 4-170 (Guptill).
Bowling: Kulasekara 4-0-40-0, Malinga 4-0-35-1 (w1, nb1), Mendis 4-0-21-1,
Jayasuriya 4-0-22-2, Bandara 2-0-19-0, Dilshan 2-0-31-0.
SRI LANKA
T. Dilshan c Guptill b Bond 1
S. Jayasuriya c Taylor b Mills 7
M. Udawatte c Broom b Mills 0
M. Jayawardene c Ryder b N. McCullum 41
K. Sangakkara c and b Oram 69
A. Mathews c Taylor b N. McCullum 1
G. Rupasinghe c Vettori b Bond 18
N. Kulasekara c Taylor b Bond 2
M. Bandara not out 4
L. Malinga not out 0
Extras: (lb2, w3) 5
Total (for 8 wkts, 20 overs) 148
Did not bat: Ajantha Mendis.
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Dilshan), 2-2 (Udawatte), 3-11 (Jayasuriya), 4-78 (Jayawardene),
5-80 (Mathews), 6-129 (Rupasinghe), 7-143 (Sangakkara), 8-148 (Kulasekara).
Bowling: Bond 4-0-18-3, Mills 3-0-22-2 (w1), Butler 4-0-34-0 (w1),
Vettori 3-0-27-0 (w1), N. McCullum 3-0-18-2, Oram 3-0-27-1. |