The First http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World T20 Spectacle for 2012 - Part 2 - Opinion
Continued from Part 1...
Sri Lanka’s reply was explosive to say the least, as one of the pre tournament favourites with the bat, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 attack with this amazing wrists, and flashy stroke play. Dilshan’s onslaught sent down ominous
signs for the Kiwis as the match began to slip away considerably, with Jayawardene also launching an attack of his own. Good fielding and tight line and lengths which were bowled by the New Zealanders however, stifled the run flow of Sri Lanka and ensured
that the run rate hovered below 8 or just above eight for the home side, for the most part of their innings. The trend of wickets falling in the middle order as was the case with New Zealand, continued for Sri Lanka as well, as they lost their way miserably
after a fine start. Bowlers such as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DL-Vettori-c1384 ensured that they could bring New Zealand back into the game, with James Franklin managing to dislodge some of Sri Lanka’s most brutal strikers of the cricket ball which included
Jeevan Mendis and Thisara Perera. Perera’s wicket was possibly the turning point in the game, as Sri Lanka fell agonizingly close to surpassing New Zealand’s total of 174 and had to settle for a tie instead.
If the game in the allotted twenty overs became a cliff hanger for the passionate crowd, then more was to come, as the result boiled down to the super over of the innings. Sri Lanka was sent in to bat with Thisara Perera and Mahela Jayawardena opening the
batting and aiming to secure the deal with six deliveries to face. It was speculated that this pair would send down shivers in the New Zealand ranks and post a huge score in the over. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TG-Southee-c2659 however, was too pragmatic a man to let Sri Lanka achieve their
objectives, as he fired in deliveries around the wicket and gave no room for the batsmen to slash hard outside of the off stump. Many of Southee’s thunderbolts cannoned into Mahela Jayawardena and Thisara Perera's pads, which meant that scoring off of him,
became a difficult task for the Sri Lankans.
In the end, there was nothing that Sri Lanka could draw home about with just 13 runs coming from their super over. Thisara Perera’s big hitting exploits were put to rest by Tim Southee, and the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lions-c808 had to settle for just 13 runs from their six deliveries.
It seemed like a walk in the park for New Zealand; especially after http://www.senore.com/Cricket/BB-McCullum-c1129 was seen donning the pads from the pavilion. Yet any sign of bludgeoning the ball from the brutal bat of Brendon McCullum was laid to rest, as Sri Lanka managed to snare the
Kiwis, with their exceptional fielding. The sensational catch of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Christopher-Alroy-Martin-c50714 Guptil on the boundary line from none other than Tillakaratne Dilshan sealed the deal for the home side, as New Zealand simply could not put bat on ball. At the end of the day, an epic
game of cricket had ended up in a tragedy for the Kiwis, but was met with delirium with Sri Lanka who had their own woes to address. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 had snuck through, but only just. In a nutshell, this was a game that this tournament badly needed.
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