Cardiff: Low-scoring match more than often brings some chills and thrills and the match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the ICC Champions Trophy was a classic example of it. New Zealand won the match by one wicket but not before Lasith Malinga nearly pulled the match in Sri Lanka’s favour. McCullum Brothers, Brendon and Nathan, brought their side really close to the winning position but it was Tim Southee who kept his nerves to win this electrifying contest.
Earlier in the game, it was some poor batting from Sri Lankan batsmen which restricted them to 138 runs in 37.5 overs.
Chasing the mediocre total of 139, New Zealand had a decent start as they were 1/35 after eight overs. But Malinga, Eranga and Herath struck in back-to-back overs which reduced them to 4/49.
Brendon McCullum managed to add 21 runs with James Franklin before Franklin was dismissed by Tilakaratne Dilshan and that brought Daniel Vettori into the middle.
Vettori added five runs to the team total but was given out as Malinga trapped him in front of the wickets. But McCullum brothers applied themselves well to bring the Black Caps into the game with their 35 runs crucial partnership. Malinga undid both of them with his slower Yorkers but Southee fought well to scored 13 runs and handed over the win to the Kiwis.
Earlier in the match, it was some brilliant bowling from the Kiwis which pushed the Lankans onto the back-foot. Mills struck on the very first ball that he bowled and got rid of Kushal Perera.
Sangakkara played the waiting game while Dilshan was looking in good touch after scoring three boundaries off McClenaghan. But Dilshan was undone by McClenaghan as he successfully breached his defence. Mahela Jayawardene and Dinesh Chandimal couldn’t do much with the bat and Sri Lanka was reduced to 4/34 after their 10 overs. Angelo Matthews did try to knit a partnership with Sangakkara and added 31 runs for the fifth wicket.
But it was McClenaghan who struck again to get rid of Matthews and later Lahiru Thirimanne ran himself out. Both the batsmen contributed nine runs each to their team’s total.
Meanwhile, Sangakkara reached his fifty off 70 balls after scoring three back-to-back boundaries. He couldn’t stay for long whereas Thisara Perera got out after scoring 15 runs. Sri Lanka managed to score just 138 runs in the 37.5 overs they batted.
McClenaghan ended up with the figures of 4/43 whereas Mills took 2 for 14. Nathan McCullum picked up two wickets for just 23 runs in the eight overs he bowled.
