Jayasuriya stars in Sri Lankan win
A Man-of-the-Match performance from Sanath Jayasuriya helped Sri Lanka chase down New Zealand's 164 for 7 with seven wickets to spare
Dileep Premachandran
15-Sep-2007
Sri Lanka 168 for 3 (Jayasuriya 61, Jayawardene 35 not out) beat New Zealand 164 for 7 (Taylor 62, Oram 33 not out) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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Their poor outing was encapsulated by Shane Bond, who was clattered for 45
from his four overs while also dropping Jayasuriya off successive balls,
the second a sitter at mid-on when he had made 40. Upul Tharanga
contributed a sparkling 37 as the match was effectively sealed within the
first seven overs of the Lankan innings.
Jayasuriya got off the mark with a streaky four down to third man off
Bond, but there was nothing fortuitous about strokes that raced to the
rope at backward point, square leg and long-off. Bond had a wretched
outing against Sri Lanka in the World Cup semi-final at Sabina Park and it
was reprised here with Tharanga carving him through cover and then
top-edging a six over fine leg.
There was also an astonishing flat-batted six over cover off Chris Martin
and a rude welcome for Mark Gillespie, who followed figures of 4 for 7
against Kenya with an opening over that went for 20 as Jayasuriya
nonchalantly clipped consecutive sixes behind square on the leg side.
By the time Tharanga was caught in the deep off Daniel Vettori, the chase
had become a near-formality. Vettori and Scott Styris stemmed the tide
somewhat, and with Kumar Sangakkara taking 17 balls to strike his first
and only four, the run-rate slowly mounted. But the moment Sangakkara
pulled Styris to deep square leg, New Zealand's fate was sealed, as
Jayawardene came in and played a succession of gorgeous shots.
The chip over mid-off to get off the mark was impudent and a cut for four
off Bond and a massive loft over midwicket off Jacob Oram just glorious.
Jayasuriya fell to Vettori with just seven needed, trying to repeat an
earlier six over long-on, but Jayawardene saw it home with seven balls to
spare.
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Earlier, Taylor and Peter Fulton had given the New Zealand innings impetus
after Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando had varied their pace beautifully
to keep the runs down in the initial exchanges. There were no hits to the
outer, and Brendan McCullum, dropped at cover and short fine leg, couldn't
capitalise on his good fortune either, miscuing a pull straight to Lasith
Malinga at backward square leg.
Lou Vincent, who also struggled to power the ball away, followed soon
after, lofting a full toss over Fernando's head for Chamara Silva to run
across from mid-off and take the catch. But once Fulton got going with a
huge swing over the leg side for six, the innings started to gather some
momentum.
Vaas had bowled superbly right through his spell but his figures were
ruined somewhat by Fulton cleverly flicking one down to fine leg for
another six. But it was the Gayan Wijekoon, fairly new to international
cricket, who was targetted ruthlessly as New Zealand upped the ante.
Taylor effortlessly lofted him over midwicket for the first of three
sixes, and the run-rate was close to nine by the time Fulton made room for
himself, only to swat a Wijekoon delivery straight to Malinga at deep
cover.
Malinga was introduced only in the 13th over, and proved rather difficult
to get away. The pressure he built up claimed Craig McMillan, run out
going for a quick single. By then, New Zealand had also lost Styris,
unlucky to be given out leg before by Daryl Harper off Sanath Jayasuriya.
Oram got going with a deft reverse-sweep, and a huge straight six off
Malinga, but the star of the show was undoubtedly Taylor, who found the
gaps and ran hard during a sensational knock that ended only with a thin
edge through to Kumar Sangakkara. Vettori, who had elected to bat on a
pitch where most prefer to chase, thwacked Wijekoon for a six over
backward point, but a last-ball run out left Sri Lanka with a chase that
proved to be a Bullring stroll for Jayasuriya and friends.
Dileep Premachandran is associate editor of Cricinfo