Rain was predicted to turn up and have a big say in the New Zealand versus Sri Lanka match at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday. Instead, it was the Kiwi bowlers and batters who turned up on the day and won by five wickets to put themselves in prime position to qualify for the semifinals of the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Chasing a modest 172 runs for victory, the New Zealand opening pair of Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra blasted their way through the Powerplay overs, getting to 73 for no loss to push Sri Lanka on the backfoot.
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Kusal Mendis brought on Maheesh Theekshana and Dhananjaya de Silva in the Powerplay, but the move backfired as Conway, especially, was severe on anything loose bowled by the duo and the fast bowlers.
The pair put on 86 runs for the first wicket before Conway was caught at short mid-wicket by de Silva for 45 off Chameera’s bowling. Soon, Ravindra was on his way back to the pavilion too as he fell trying to force the issue off Theekshana’s bowling and was caught at mid-on by de Silva for 42.
Skipper Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell kept the innings moving forward, with the latter especially severe on Theekshana’s spin, bringing out the reverse sweep on more than one occasion to negate the turn and put pressure on Mendis to try something different.
Angelo Mathews broke the Williamson-Mitchell union by bowling the former for 14 and incoming batter Mark Chapman was run-out in the final stages of the chase.
Mitchell soon fell for 43, but Phillips and Tom Latham put the finishing touches to the chase and helped New Zealand clinch the two points they badly needed to stay in contention for a place in the semifinals of the quadrennial event.
Earlier, after electing to field a combined bowling display led by Trent Boult’s 3 for 37, helped Williamson’s men restrict Sri Lanka to 171 all out in 46.4 overs.
Boult, who had come into the match with eight wickets to his name, swung the ball and accounted for Sri Lanka’s best batter Sadeera Samarawickrama for 1 to put Sri Lanka under early pressure in the contest.
He was well supported by New Zealand’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament Mitchell Santner – who took 2 for 22 in his 10 overs to increase his tally to 16 wickets in nine matches.
Kusal Perera was Sri Lanka’s top scorer on the day, making 51 runs in 28 balls that included an over where he took 18 runs off Tim Southee.
But the southpaw lacked support from other batters, who failed to make use of good batting conditions that were on offer, falling to some good bowling from fast bowlers on some instances and giving their wickets away to lose shots on others.
Maheesh Theekshana offered useful resistance lower down the order by making 38 runs off 89 balls and putting on 43 runs for the final wicket with Dilshan Madushanka that helped his side cross the 150-run mark.
But the total of 172 runs was never going to challenge New Zealand unless Madushanka and co. struck early with the new ball which did not happen and it meant that Sri Lanka ended their campaign with yet another loss, their seventh of the ODI World Cup 2023 which dented their chances of qualifying for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 171 all out in 46.4 overs (Perera 51, Theekshana 38; Boult 3/37) lost to New Zealand 172 for 5 in 23.2 overs (Conway 45, Mitchell 43; Mathews 2/29)
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