Sri Lanka stormed into the final of the Coca-Col Cup with a thumping 106-runvictory over New Zealand in Colombo today.
It was a pathetic batting display by the Kiwis who could muster only115 for nine in their alloted 36 overs while replying to 221 for six by SriLanka.
The win gave Sri Lanka eight points with a match against India tomorrow inhand. New Zealand have four points and they too have a game against India onThursday. India would need to win both their remaining matches in order to makeit to the final. In the event of a tie, the head-to-head record of the two teamsin this series would be taken into account ahead of the net run rate.
Advertisement
New Zealand lost too many early wickets and never looked in the chase todayafter Sri Lanka, helped by a gallant 58 off 46 balls from Mahela Jayawardene,had set an imposing total.
Set to score at 6.15 an over, New Zealand lost their first five wickets forjust 18 runs in the eighth over and could never recover. Only four batsmen madeit to double figures with two of them ironically being last men Darryl Tuffy andKyle Mills.
Extras (25) accounted for maximum runs in the New Zealand innings with DionNash contributing 23 and Chris Harris 18
Earlier, Sri Lankan batsmen made merry on a battingfriendly pitch to pile up a huge 221 for six in their allotted 36 overs in arain-curtailed match.
Advertisement
Put in to bat by New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming,Sri Lanka were helped by a gallant 58 off 46 balls by Jayawardene who shruggedoff his poor form in this series with a brilliant knock.
Rain delayed the start of the match by over two hoursand forced a reduction in the quota of overs.
With each side to play only 36 overs, it was alwaysgoing to be an explosive match. Fleming did not hesitate in putting theopposition in to bat when he won the toss saying his team would rather know thetarget and chase it accordingly.
However, Sanath Jayasuriya and his men made light workof his decision with some hard hitting and setting a daunting asking rate of6.15 for New Zealand. Jayasuriya and Avishka Gunawardene, who came into the sidein place of Kumara Sangakkara, put on 32 runs for the opening wicket before thecaptain was out for 20 in the seventh over.
Romesh Kaluwitharana was promoted up the order and he,in the company of Gunawardene, ensured a scoring rate in excess of five runs anover with some intelligent batting.
Kaluwitharana was run out to a brilliant piece offielding by Jacob Oram after making 25 with the second Sri Lankan wicket fallingat 89. Gunawardene followed him soon after when he miscued an on-drive to seeMathew Sinclair taking a good catch running backwards. Gunawardene made 38.
Then came the best phase of Sri Lankan innings withMarvan Atapattu and Jayawardene adding 56 runs for the fourth wicket.Jayawardene had struggled in the earlier matches but played a gem of an inningstoday which really propped up his team to a challenging total.
Advertisement
As Atapattu did the strike-rotation job, Jayawardene,who found his timing and footwork right, went on the offensive hitting the bigshots. He lofted Chris Harris for a straight six to take 11 runs from the 27thover.
That was just the beginning of the Sri Lankanacceleration as Atapattu too got into the act, dancing down the wicket to DanielVettori for a six over the cover region.
Runs began to flow for the hosts and they clearlylooked headed towards a total in excess of 200.
Jayawardene, who crossed 2000 runs in one-day cricket,hit two consecutive fours off McMillan and smashed Dion Nash for a six straightover the bowler's head. He reached his half-ton off 41 balls with the help ofthree fours and two sixes.
Advertisement
He hit another four, off Oram in the 34th over, beforegetting out, caught by Nash off McMillan, while going for another straight six.
Atapattu had earlier been stumped by Adam Parore off Vettori after making 34runs which comprised a four and a six.
Russel Arnold played a cameo unbeaten knock of 22 runsoff 18 balls towards the end of the innings to give finishing touches to a fineeffort by his team.
Sri Lanka added 39 runs in the last four overs thanksto Jayawardene and Arnold.
PTI
