INDOOR
CRICKET WORLD
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World Cup 2002
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RESULTS |
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GAME 7 MEN NEW ZEALAND vs SRI LANKA
Result (Teams mentioned in the order they batted):
The best and closest game of the tournament so far. New Zealand opened with Rob and Mark Orchard, and they were on the board immediately with Rob taking 5 off the first ball. Three balls later the Sri Lankans got that 5 back by having Rob caught, and the over score was 5. The New Zealand openers lost two more wickets (both runout), giving their team a solid opening stand of 25. Corey Todd and Graham Murray followed, and for the first two overs they were travelling reasonably well (5 off their first over, 8 off the second). They then lost three wickets in Iroshan's over (consecutive runouts and a catch) for -6, and the Sri Lankans were turning the match strongly in their favour. The New Zealand second pair had scored only 7 from 3 overs and were in trouble.
The New Zealanders, and Corey Todd in particular, obviously then decided they would attempt to do a bit of match-turning themselves. They attacked the bowling of Chandika, taking 2,7,2,4,4,2,2,3 for a total of 26 from the over. Corey scored the 7, and both scored a 4. A struggling partnership turned into what would be the highest for the match, and an alarmingly low team score turned into a very solid 58 after 8 overs. The significance of that one over would later prove to be enormous.
Guy Coleman and Gareth Irwin then steadily took the New Zealand total along to 77 halfway through the eleventh over. From that point, Sri Lanka fought back magnificantly, and New Zealand were only able to add a further 2 runs to their total in the remaining five and a half overs. Guy and Gareth lost 3 wickets in the eleventh over, ending up with a partnership of 15. New Zealand had dropped back to 73 after 12.
Leigh Kelly and Iain O'Brien finished off for New Zealand, and were in deep trouble almost immediately, losing 3 wickets in their first over (Leigh caught three times) which was bowled by quickie Lyndon Hannibal. Although the New Zealanders took 13 from Dilshan Witharana's over (the 15th), they still could only manage a partnership of 6. In an innings of vastly mixed fortunes for both sides, New Zealand had achieved a score of 79. Sri Lanka's innings was in trouble almost immediately as they suffered 2 runouts in the first over. Dilshan and Thushendra then took 10 from the next over, but again lost 2 wickets in the 3rd over. At 3 after 3, the Sri Lankan openers needed a good last over, and so it turned out to be. They took 13 runs from the 4th over, for a partnership of 19.
Chandika and Chrishantha were in next, and they started a little shakily, surviving 2 third-balls in their first over. But the New Zealanders kept up the pressure, and a third-ball situation in the 6th over resulted in a wicket and -2 off the over. The Sri Lankans survived yet another third-ball in the 7th over, but had a runout in the 8th. The partnership was 11, for a team total of 30 after 8 overs. That left 50 runs from 8 overs, and Sri Lanka were still very much in the game.
Lyndon and Iroshan came in third, and immediately the New Zealanders seemed to lift in the field. It was as if they had targetted this pair for an extra effort. Two runouts in the 9th over and a runout on a third-ball in the 10th had Sri Lanka back to 23 after 10 overs, and the pressure was building. Sri Lanka now needed 47 from the 6 remaining overs, and the task was beginning to get out of hand. Although the batting pair survived a third-ball in the 11th over, they could only manage 5 runs from it. Some solid scoring was required in the 12th over, and the batsmen had no choice but to go for it. A couple of wides at the beginning of the over certainly helped their cause, as did a 4 from Lyndon's bat. However, the New Zealanders tightened up toward the end of the over, giving away just 1 run from the last 3 balls. The over cost 12 runs, and the partnership realised 10. The last pair had been set an enormous task. 40 to win from the last 4 overs. Although there have been many partnerships this week of 40 or more, few, if any, have been final pairs chasing that score for a win. The Sri Lankans were going to have to pull something special out of the bag, and the New Zealanders knew they only had to play steady, solid cricket to make it very difficult for them.
A wicket from the first ball of their partnership added to the task set Asela and Sanjeewa. They only managed 3 from the 13th over, and a runout from a third-ball in the 14th sealed the issue. 47 after 12, requiring 33 from 2 overs. They took 12 runs from the 15th over, then suffered a runout from a third-ball situation in the last over. The final pair put on 25, and Sri Lanka scored 65 runs. A good, high-quality game. Sri Lanka are here to play, and they can. Pre-tournament calls of this exciting team being in the top 3 in the world do not look too far off the mark. |
