Sri Lanka v New Zealand: Match Analysis
The in-form New Zealand team has been thrashed by Sri Lanka in a crucial encounter of group A of the ICC Cricket World Cup, 2011 at Mumbai. This is an emphatic victory for the Islanders just before the quarter-final stage of the tournament and it is surely
going to boost their morale.
The Black Caps on the other hand have been in good form in the mega event, but they were disappointing on Friday and did not look threatening once the Sri Lankan batsmen started to dominate the proceedings.
This was Sri Lanka’s first match of the ongoing tournament outside home and probably a test as well, because a majority of the cricket pundits believe that the Islanders are stronger at home. However the Sri Lankan team proved the critics wrong and displayed
a brilliant team effort in front of a packed house at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820.
Kumar Sangakkara proved once again that he is one of the best wicketkeeper batmen in the world and struck a splendid ton which sealed the match for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758. He has been Sri Lanka’s best batsman in all forms of the game since the last couple of years. However,
the sole reliance of the Sri Lankan team on him and Mahela Jayawardene is quite dangerous, because the Islanders fail to pile up big totals on the board if these two do not fire.
Sangakkara said after the match that it was quite tough for him to bat in this temperature but he and his players thoroughly enjoyed the victory.
“It was quite hot there, we practiced two days in the heat, took a toll but we enjoyed it. When we won the toss, we knew the first 10-15 overs were going to be difficult, so we just rotated the strike and kept wickets for the end,” he said.
Other positives for the Sri Lankan team include the performance of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajantha-c42419 Mendis, who looked threatening after a long time and also picked a couple of scalps.
Meanwhile, New Zealand, which looked like a dangerous side after their triumph against Pakistan, was merely average in both the batting and bowling department against Sri Lanka.
The Kiwi progress in the World Cup has been heavily jolted because of the injury to their captain Daniel Vettori, who is also the best bowler of his team. John Wright would be hoping that Vettori is able to take part in the knockout stage of the tournament.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 expressed disappointment about the result in the post match presentation ceremony but also admired the performances of Sangakkara and Muralitharan.
“We came with hopes of taking momentum into the quarter-finals, but the way Kumar Sangakkara played, he took us out of the game. We were with the rate the whole way, but Murali bowled really well and we kept losing wickets,” Taylor said.
This result has made Saturday’s fixture between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 very important as the winner of that match is going to finish at the top position before the quarter-finals.
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