 |
| Thilan Samaraweera (right) and the runner of Angelo Mathews (not in picture) Mahela Jayawardene celebrate their team's win against New Zealand. REUTERS picture Andrew Caballero-Reynolds |
Sri Lanka marked Muttiah Muralitharan’s last appearance in an international on home soil with a five wicket World Cup semi final victory over New Zealand at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday, a painstaking struggle after the top four batsmen were dismissed and raised questions about their ability to provide a genuine challenge to Pakistan or India in the final in Mumbai on Saturday.
Chasing a modest target of 218 under lights, Sri Lanka were cruising on 161 for 1, but a flurry of wickets which resulted in three crucial wickets falling within four overs, made the locals fumble and falter, before finally making it home with 2.5 overs to spare.
It all started when Tillekeratne Dilshan was caught in the covers after the in-form opener blazed his way to a typically aggressive 73 in 93 balls in the 34th over.
Dilshan hammered a six and ten boundaries while his exit looked inconsequential as his skipper Kumar Sangakkara who shared a 120-run second wicket stand was still at the crease. But Mahela Jayawardene who replaced Dilshan lasted just three balls and was dismissed for one while Sangakkara’s dismissal three overs later, turned the proceedings on its head.
Sangakkara made 54 off 79 balls with seven boundaries and a six while his exit exposed Sri Lanka’s pathetic middle order.
Chamara Silva and Tilan Samaraweera both struggled even to score singles as New Zealand smelling a kill began tightening screws. The pair added 26 runs in seven overs before Silva was bowled by Tim Southee for 13 in the 43rd over.Allrounder Angelo Mathews who pulled a hamstring while fielding came into bat with a runner, and was largely instrumental in helping them scamper home thanks to some big hits which came after the batting power-play was taken in the 45th over.
Mathews hit a six and a four off Southee in making 14 off 18 while Samaraweera made 23 not out off 38 balls.
Earlier opener Upul Tharanga smashed one six and four fours in making 30 off 31 balls while paceman Southee bagged three wickets to improve his tally of the tournament to 18 wickets in eight matches.
Read moreHowever, Sri Lanka’s win was made possible by excellent bowling which restricted the Black Caps earlier.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat but the Sri Lankan spinners strangled them as expected while Lasith Malinga produced bursts of fire and restricted them to a total which seemed below than what they were heading for earlier.Legendary Muralitharan captured a wicket with the last ball of his illustrious international career on home soil when he had New Zealand’s highest scorer Scott Styris leg-before and finished with 2 for 42.
There was doubt on the eve of yesterday’s semi final whether the 38 year old who was also a member of the World Cup winning 1996 team would play as he was nursing injuries in hamstring and knee.
The world record holder brought up his ODI wicket tally to 534 wickets in 349 matches and the wicket in his final ball at home was identical to how he finished his Test career capturing the 800th wicket of his career with the final ball dismissing Indian Pragyan Ohja in Galle last year.
"The same thing happened with me in Test cricket," said Muralitharan, adding "Playing your last match in your country is emotional. When I played my last Test and took eight wickets it was very emotional," said the off-spinner who saluted the packed noisy crowd for the last time by lifting his cap.
As Sri Lanka opted to go with three spinners and Malinga as the only specialized paceman, left arm spinner Rangana Herath opened bowling and got the first breakthrough when he cleaned up Brendon McCullum with an arm ball for 13 with the total on 32 in the eighth over.
In-form opener Martin Guptill made 39 off 65 balls before a typically express Malinga Yorker shattered his stumps, leaving them on 84 for 3 in the 22nd over.
Ross Taylor then joined Styris to put on 77 in 17.4 overs for the fourth wicket but Taylor who finally attempted to improve the rate in the 40th over was caught in the deep off Ajantha Mendis for 36 which he made in 55 balls with one boundary.
By that stage New Zealand had no option but to improve the scoring rate but it proved to be an impossible task as their last six wickets tumbled for just 25 runs within five overs.
Styris made 57 in 77 balls with five boundaries. Malinga and Mendis took three wickets apiece.
By Channaka de Silva - DM
