NZ trounce hapless Lanka
The contribution of the two sneakers who invaded the pitch towards the end of the game added more sparkle to the Kiwi victory as the home team used the cold conditions and the Lankan will to give up without a fight to register a massive 98 run win in their World Cup opener at the Hagley Park, Christchurch, New Zealand yesterday.
The first streaker ran out of the uncovered stands just in front of the press enclosure when they had the wicket of resisting Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews and the other ran out despite heavy Police guard just after the New Zealand victory.
Lahiru Thirimanne was the top-scorer for Sri Lanka against New Zealand in the Group A, World Cup 2015 opener played at Christchurch - AFP
Chasing a daunting target of 6.62 runs per over, the Lankan openers Lahiru Thirimanne and T.M. Dilshan began well enough on a wicket that held no terrors to batsmen and posted 47 runs in their first ten overs. Surprisingly it was the left hander Thirimanne who was more aggressive, but batted with style and purpose.
It was the subdued Dilshan who was out first, when he was coaxed to play a return catch by the experienced Daniel Vettori in his third over. Then Thirimanne at 48 was dropped by the New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum off Elliot and in the next over he completed his fifty.
Once Dilshan departed, Thirimanne joining Sangakkara kept up the momentum. Meanwhile Sangakkara got past 1000 World Cup runs to become the third Sri Lankan to the mark. He has also passed Ricky Ponting on the ODI run-scorer’s list to go second to Sachin Tendulkar.
The next to depart was opener Thirimanne who was bowled by paceman Trent Boult for 65.
After the departure of Thirimanne, the Lankans lost the grip of the game when they lost seniors Mahela Jayawardena (0) and Sangakkara (39) in quick succession. Sri Lanka slid from 1 for 124 to 129 for 4.
From that point they never recovered. As usual Mathews was stranded in the middle with no hope and was out batting with despair, thus inviting a happy streaker to take away the attention.
Now they are compelled to win against Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Scotland to move on to the next round, but, with the soulless brand of cricket that play they can be misfits among the big guns, even if they move to the quarters.
They do have to ascertain if it is only the bowling department that has lost the sparkle that they possessed in previous three World Cups. The batting also lacks the depth that is needed to succeed at this level of cricket.
At this end we found at least one disgruntled member in the touring staff that is cheesed off by what is happening around him. Maybe that is the lack of intensity of the Lanka’s brand of cricket.
Hope they could overcome these impediments and bring their winning habits back on to the field. If not even Snape’s help will be of no avail.
Earlier in the day Sri Lanka won the toss and Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews invited, Brendon McCullum’s men to take the first lease of the crease on a cold and hazy morning.
Sri Lanka went in with a 6+1+4 combination with the management opting for the batting skills of spinning all-rounder Jeewan Mendis over Mr. tentative Dinesh Chandimal. The other day the Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya was heard hinting that this may be the only option for Sri Lanka.As predicted out of the Kiwi openers Martin Guptill was rather subdued and kept pushing the singles for his explosive skipper Brendon McCullum who even opted for a bit of agriculture at times. Yet, the balls to be hit he pulverised them. So much so match short Lasith Malinga’s fourth over went for 18 runs which contained three fours and a six.
Mathews was forced to introduce left arm spinner Rangana Herath in the ninth over, but McCullum ran to his 50 in just 35 balls with 8 fours and a six and the one hundred run stand came in just 82 balls.
McCullum’s reign of terror was over when he tried to hit Herath over the fence once again and was held superbly by Jeewan Mendis inches in front of the long off fence.
The Lankans would have cut in further had Sangakkara latched on to a difficult snick off Suranga Lakmal’s first delivery, before the batsman got off the mark. A few runs later Sangakkara made some amendments to his early folly by holding on to a similar offer that he missed earlier on off the same bowler.
In the penultimate over prior to the second power play leg spinner Jeewan Mendis bowled the Lankans back into contention with the wickets of Williamson and Taylor in successive balls.
Yet, with two new batsmen at the crease — Elliot and Anderson, New Zealand scored six and over in the five.
In the third ball of the 46th over, the Lankans who caught admirably until then made the mistake of Mendis dropping Ronchi off Lakmal, an over which cost them 14 runs. A new batsman at the crease would have meant some respite, but it was not to be. Then Malinga clean bowled the same batsman only to be named as a no-ball by the third umpire S. Ravi of India. Yet, some were of the opinion that an element of the boot was behind the crease. On the subject of ground fielding it was numbing and slow given the temperature of 14 degrees counted as the only excuse.
Anderson the highest scorer 75 and Ronchi 29 not out put on 73 runs for sixth wicket in 6.1 overs, and the Lankans will rue their decision to play fading Kulasekera instead of new kid in the bloc Dushmantha Chameera.
| ScoreboardNew Zealand Martin Guptill c Sangakkara b Lakmal 49 Sri Lanka Lahiru Thirimanne b Boult 65 |