New Zealand 139 for 9 (N McCullum 32, Malinga 4-34) beat Sri Lanka 138 (Sangakkara 68, McClenaghan 4-43, Mills 2-14) by 1 wicket
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Lasith Malinga took the 22 yards out of the equation in a low-scoring
thriller, but New Zealand survived him to register their first win over
Sri Lanka in four years. The pitch has hardly ever mattered less. It was
flat, the sun was out, the ball was not swinging, but Malinga's dipping
slower full tosses had New Zealand batsmen hopping and hoping in what
was expected to be an afternoon stroll. Nathan McCullum, first, and then
Tim Southee batted with just the maturity New Zealand desperately
needed to see them through with one wicket in hand.
The chase swung dramatically. From coasting at 48 for 1 New Zealand
stumbled to 49 for 4. From 70 for 4 they fell to 80 for 6, but then,
crucially, they were allowed to get away with a relatively quieter phase
when Malinga was taken off and brought back only after brothers
McCullum had taken off 31 off the requirement. Malinga came back and
seemed like he could strike with every ball, but Sri Lanka will be left
asking themselves - especially because Malinga brought them so close -
if they had kept Malinga's four overs back for too long.
DRS, or the way it was used by the sides, made its presence felt too.
Kane Williamson wasted New Zealand's review by asking for a replay when
he was caught dead plumb by a thigh-high dipping full toss. Daniel
Vettori later copped a rough one when he had hit another similar full
toss into his pad. Sri Lanka had exhausted theirs early in the innings,
and had to do with two not-outs towards the end that they could have got
overturned on replay.
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'I misread the pitch' - Mathews
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Amid loud unending appeals almost every ball, it was supreme drama with
the balls remaining taken out of the equation: New Zealand still won
with 13.3 overs to spare and took a bigger net-run-rate boost than
England did in their facile win over Australia.
Going by how they went either side of the lunch break - their chase
began early because they had bowled Sri Lanka out in 2 hours and 55
minutes - New Zealand should have finished it much earlier. It was all
going swimmingly for them until Malinga got Williamson in the eighth
over. In the next couple of overs, Rangana Herath and Shaminda Eranga -
preferred to Sachithra Senanayake and Nuwan Kulasekara - struck. Herath
trapped Ross Taylor with one that went on with the arm, and Eranga got
one to bounce from short of a length outside off, taking the edge from
Martin Guptill, who had raced away to 25 from 24.
Still it should have been easy for New Zealand, but they fumbled further
to spin. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Herath almost cut out all singles,
and Dilshan got James Franklin with the right-arm spinner's version of
the earlier Taylor dismissal. Sri Lanka were now sensing room for a
miracle here, and brought Malinga back for his sixth over. On cue he
struck, but Vettori could not get the obvious howler overturned because
his team-mate had earlier challenged a call he was merely not sure
about.
Strangely, though, Malinga was taken off immediately after he took
Vettori's wicket. When he was brought back, New Zealand had reached 111
for 6, needing only a further 28. Both Brendon McCullum and Nathan
McCullum had been allowed to take the singles, and they did so. The
period did involve a thin edge from N McCullum in the 28th over when the
score read 100, but only the keeper heard it. Even the bowler Eranga
hardly appealed. Did the excessive appealing leading up to that - Sri
Lanka had been spoken to at the end of the 21st over - have any part to
play in that decision? We will never know.
It is credit to Malinga's genius, though, that he came back and
immediately took B McCullum out with another one of his loopy,
alarmingly dipping full tosses. B McCullum played all across it, and the
ball reached the off stump on a half-volley. New Zealand now needed 24
runs with three wickets in hand. Quite clearly, it was Malinga v New
Zealand, and you wonder if it would have been different if it had been
44 runs to play with, and not 24.
Malinga, however, kept producing the magic. In his next over, he took
out the other McCullum, who had wizened up to the slower ball, with a
quick inswinging yorker. New Zealand still had 17 to get, and Malinga
had 2.4 overs to go. The next four balls were a slower yorker, a quick
yorker, a slower length ball, and another slower yorker, all on target.
This was insanely good bowling, and Tim Southee and Kyle Mills somehow
survived. As they did the next over, from Herath.
Malinga now had 12 balls to bowl, and 11 runs to defend. He began the
34th over with a quick inswinging length ball, which was only clipping
leg, and the umpire Bruce Oxenford ruled not out. He had ruled N
McCullum out on a similar delivery, and under DRS both decisions stand.
However, the next one would have been changed by DRS. It hit Southee on
the toe plumb in front, went to the third-man boundary for four, but
Tucker called it runs. It was a huge moment in the game. Not only did
New Zealand not lose Southee, the target was now down to eight.
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Much chatter went on. The players had to be separated at the end of the
over. Southee was not losing his cool, though. The same couldn't be said
of Mills. Southee dug one out towards mid-on in the next over, and took
the fielder on. Thisara Perera missed the stumps at the non-striker's
end narrowly, but he was lucky the ball went to hit the other set of
stumps. Mills, though, was not desperate to make it, and was caught
short. New Zealand still needed five, and Malinga had one over to go.
For once, Malinga made a mistake. He began his final over with an
attempted yorker that went down the leg side. Southee cautiously played
out the rest of the over. Don't bother about whether the No. 11 will be
on strike for the next over. Just see Malinga off.
Sri Lanka now made another interesting choice. Dilshan was given the
ball. You could see why. Mitchell McClenaghan, a left-hand batsman, was
on strike. He could get the lbw with the straighter one, or a bat-pad
catch. But forget short leg for the inside edge, there was no man
catching. And New Zealand needed only four. They were granted two easy
singles, followed by a wide down the leg side, which also went for a
bye. McLenaghan was nearly run out taking the second because they were
not sure of the wide, but the end finally was a little insipid.
There was nothing insipid about New Zealand's effort in the field. Sri
Lanka had gone with just three strike bowlers, but New Zealand replaced
the injured allrounder, Gran Elliot, with a bowler, Vettori. You can
imagine a few captains sitting back and allowing easy singles once the
early wickets were taken, but there were no soft partnerships here. If
you wanted to score runs, you either played exceptional shots or took
risks. The risks brought New Zealand timely wickets.
It all began when B McCullum went parallel to the ground at second slip
to send back Kusal Perera with the first ball of the match. All other
New Zealand signs were there. Mills struck his usual early blows,
Vettori - the first spinner to bowl inside the mandatory Powerplay in
this tournament - took a wicket in his first ODI over since
the 2011 World Cup, and McClenaghan kept cutting partnerships short.
McCullum chipped in too, there was a run-out, and Sri Lanka were bowled
out in the 38th over.
Kumar Sangakkara was one of three batsmen to reach double figures, but
the only one to go past 20. He looked a cut above every other batsman on
the day, but looking for quick runs he sliced an N McCullum offbreak to
backward point. Sangakkara knew knocking around wouldn't help, and had
been taking risks for a while now. This one didn't come off, though. As
didn't the move to bowl Dilshan without wicket-taking intent in what
proved to be the final over of the match.
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Sidharth Monga
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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