Lanka canter to 7-wicket win over Kiwis; keep semis hopes alive

Mumbai, Oct 20 (UNI) Opener Upal Tharanga's 56 and his 89-run second wicket partnership with captain Mahela Jayawardene (48), powered the Sri Lankans to a seven-wicket victory over New Zealand in their Group 'B' match of the ICC Champions Trophy at the Brabourne stadium here today.

Needing 166 runs for victory, the men from the Emerald Isles cantered home making 166 for three with 14 overs to spare.

With this win, both teams have now got a win and a loss and are still in contention for a semis berth from this group. Pakistan is leading the group with one win from one match and South Africa bring up the rear with a loss to the Kiwis from the only match they have played so far.

The Lankans were given an explosive start by Sanath Jayasuriya who made a quick-fire 20 before being dismissed caught behind of an inside edge by Kumar Sangakkara off the bowling of Kyle Mills. His 20 included two boundaries and a huge six over the covers of Shane Bond with the team total on 45 in just the seventh over.

Bond, who was making his comeback after a long injury lay off, took some time coming to terms with the wicket and the batsmen. His first over saw him send down a wide and two no balls, one of them a beamer to Upal Tharanga who just managed to tap it back to the bowler.

Bond was taken off after just four overs after conceding 32 runs.

He came back and bowled a better second spell but by that time the match was well and truly decided in Sri Lanka's favour.

The New Zealanders got a couple of bonus wickets when Jeetan Patel took two wickets in one over, but it was a little too late as far as the Kiwis were concerned. Jayawardene holed out to Vettori at long off and then in the same over Jeetan Patel got Tharanga stepping out to him and beat him in flight for Brendon McCullum to have an easy stumping. Tharanga made 56 from 77 balls with nine hits to the fence.

Kumar Sangakkara and Marvan Atappatu then took the Lankans home without further scares.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Sri Lankan spinners had the Kiwi bastmen caught in a web as Muttiah Muralitharan (4-23) and Sanath Jayasuriya kept the New Zealanders down to just 165 all out in the 50th over.

The New Zealanders would have been in further trouble had it not been for a courageous 47-run last wicket partnership which saw them swell their total from 118 for nine to some sort of respectability at 165 all out in 49.2 overs.

Electing to bat first, no New Zealand batsmen with the exception of Nathan Astle was able to settle on an intriguing pitch as they struggled to score runs or keep wickets.

Though no one was sure quite how the pitch would play after the use of adhesives on it to hold it together - sniffing glue, after all, is said to leave uncertain side effects - clearly it loomed large on the minds of both teams initially.

Astle battled on as wickets kept falling at the other end, cutting and dabbing a couple of boundaries but as Muttiah Muralitharan made a grand entrance, flummoxing Jacob Oram with a doosra, his appeared a lone fight.

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