| Sri Lanka Innings 5 overs | 10 overs | 15 overs | 20 overs | 30 overs | End of game
5 overs: Sri Lanka pay heed to trend
Having watched the chasing teams win both the first two matches of the Wills Interntional Cup here in Dhaka, Sri Lanka became the first team to choose to insert the opposition after winning the tooss.
The Sri Lankan team contained no surprises, with lanky left arm paceman Nuwan Zoysa recalled to the side after injury. The Kiwis left out Mark Bailey, and in his place have included the off spinner Paul Wiseman.
The pitch looks to be a good one again, but may offer just a hint of assistance to the bowlers early on, and this may have influenced Ranatunga's decision to field first.
Matthew Bell came out with Nathan Astle to begin the New Zealand innings, and they got off to a very quiet start, with just three runs coming off the first two overs. Both Vaas and Zoysa, bowling left arm over the wicket, were getting the ball to lift just a fraction, and move nicely across the two right handed batsmen.
Astle was able to loosen the shackles a little in the third over, when he stood up tall, and imperiously lofted Vaas over the covers for four. It wasn't a bad delivery from Vaas, the shot was perhaps a bit fortuitous, and certainly a reflection of the batsman's frustration.
At the other end, Zoysa soon warmed into his stride, and was working up a fair pace, troubling the batsman with some movement off the seam. However, one overpitched delivery was all Nathan Astle needed, and the crowd roared their appreciation as the batsman drove through extra cover for four. Zoysa was obbviously aggrieved, and the following ball was an attempted bouncer. Astle shaped to hook, but it sailed harmlessly out of reach and well down the leg side.
Two balls later, Astle was walking disconsolately back to the pavilion. Trying to drive Zoysa through the covers, his shot was defeated by a bit of extra lift and movement away, and the resultant thick edge sliced into the hands of a diving Sanath Jaysuriya at backward point, who completed a good catch at the second attempt.
Astle's departure brought the in-form skipper Stephen Fleming to the crease, and captain Ranatunga immediately called for re-inforcements in the slip cordon, looking to put the batsman under early pressure.
Thirty thousand people roared their approval and waved their banners when Fleming played a delightful shot to the first ball of the fifth over from Vaas. The ball was short of a length, and Fleming stood up on the back foot, and used his wrists to time and place the ball, bisecting the fielder at mid wicket and mid on. Aravinda de Silva was forced to chase the ball all the way to the ropes, but to his chagrin, just failed to save the boundary. Ranatunga immediately swapped Muralitharan and de Silva in the field, but even the electric young Tamilian couldn't prevent a cheeky single from the next delivery.
At the end of the fifth over, New Zealand are then 22 for the loss of Nathan Astle.
10 overs: Phlegmatic Fleming consolidates
Ranatunga took himself out of the slips and moved to a catching position at short mid wicket, and this seemed to inspire Nuwan Zoysa to bowl a tighter line. His third over was an excellent one at Matthew Bell. He was very unfortunate when Bell aimed a pull at the last delivery, which was not short enough for the shot, and the bottom edge managed to squeeze between fine and square leg and trickle over the boundary for four. The moral victory was the bowlers, but New Zealand will be quite happy with the way things turned out.
The problem for New Zealand at this stage was that although the boundaries were flowing, tight bowling and fielding was preventing them from running the singles in between. This in turn resulted in the batsmen attempting some very cheeky singles, and on at least three occasions, a direct hit could have resulted in a run out.
Ranatunga was in the thick of the action throughout, making some very canny and perceptive adjustments to the field at regular intervals. With Zoysa bowling to Matthew Bell at one point we saw a short fine leg, a deep backward square leg, a short square leg, and a short mid wicket in position. That Bell managed only one single, which was down to the man at deep backward square, was testament both to the precision of the field placing, but also the accuracy of the bowler.
The lack of runs had kept the crowd a little subdued, but it soon became evident that they were focused on the action when a brilliant diving stop at short cover by none other than Arjuna Ranatunga received the sort of ovation usually reserved for a lofted drive over long on.
The frustration continued for the Kiwis into the tenth over, Fleming and Bell still unable to make anything of the bowling. Both tried to unsettle Zoysa by moving around in their crease, and coming down the track, but each time, the bowler had an answer, varying his line and length accordingly. At the end of 10 overs, New Zealand were just 36 for 1, and the Sri Lankans certainly the happier of the two sides.
15 overs: Bell fails again, as new Zealand struggle
Vaas and Zoysa continued to pile the pressure on the Kiwis, as both Fleming and Bell searched in vain for a way to unsettle the bowlers and take advantage of the fielding restrictions. Much of the credit went to captain Ranatunga, whose unconventional field placings have been spot on, not giving the New Zealanders any chance of rotating the strike.
Although Matthew Bell did manage to pull out a cracking straight drive for four off an attempted yorker from Zoysa, there was little else for the Kiwis, dressed in their now traditional one day uniforms, to smile about.
Things finally started to happen in Vaas' seventh over. Fleming had obviously decided that enough was enough, and launched a mini-assault, driving the bowler straight back down the ground, and then through mid wicket for successive fours. His agression was to prove his downfall though, when he tried to force the next delivery through mid wicket again, and was trapped lbw by a ball which seamed into him.
Ranatunga made his first change in the 14th over, having noticed that Zoysa was flagging a little in the sapping heat and humidity. He was immediately impressive, varying his pace intelligently, and not allowing new batsman Craig McMillan to settle at all.
Seeing this, Ranatunga introduced his trump card, Murali at the other end, and three balls later, he delivered the goods. He extracted prodigious turn form the pitch, as he is wont to do on any surface, and Matthew Bell was completely uncertain as to how to deal with him. He eventually chose to come down the wicket, and unsurprisingly was left stranded as he was beaten by the turn and flight, and Romesh Kaluwitherana whipped the bails off with glee.
At drinks then, New Zealand 58 for 3, in the fifteenth over, and struggling to make an impact on this game.
20 overs: New Zealand continue to struggle
If proceedings had been slow in the first fifteen overs, they became even more lethargic thereafter, as Kumara Dharmasena and Muttiah Muralitharan spun an intricate web around McMillan and Parore. Using subtle variations of flight, pace, and turn, they were able to keep the batsmen guessing. Ranatunga was content to set a balanced field, with one man under the bat at silly point, but men on the boundary as well, not giving the batsmen the opportunity to chance their arm safely.
Craig McMillan however, has built up a reputation as a very confident young batsman, unafraid to use his feet, and full of belief in his own ability. In the 19th over, he briefly aroused sections of the crowd from their slumber when he came down the wicket to Muralitharan and lofted him over mid on for four.
Parore tried to get in on the attack later in the over, when he aimed a sweep off Murali over midwicket. He mistimed it though, and the top edge floated straight into the waiting hands of his spin twin Dharmasena. Unfortunately for the Sri Lankans, it floated straight out again, and Parore escaped with a single. The fielder suggested that the sun had been in his eyes, which was very possible, but at this level, catches like that really ought to be taken.
At the end of twenty overs then, Parore and McMillan are together at the crease, both having just reached double figures. New Zealand are on 79 for 3, and just starting to recover from a slow start.
30 overs: Spin Quartet tangle New Zealand in their web
As McMillan and Parore settled, they slowly began to find their groove, and open out a little more. McMillan in particular has been batting very intelligently, looking to work the singles at every opportunity, and making sure not to waste anything that is fractionally short or wide.
After the 21st over, in recognition of the fact that the batsmen were starting to gain some semblance of control over proceedings, Ranatunga reverted to a conventional defensive field, with just four men in the circle, and five on the boundary, and immediately the slight upsurge in the run rate had been reversed.
The introduction of Jayasuriya in the 24th over made little obvious difference, the batsman still unable to do more than work the occasional single. At the other end, Ranatunga again tampered with his field, bringing 6 men into the circle, with just a long off, deep mid wicket, and deep square leg on the fence. It was an agressive gamble, and it nearly paid off when McMillan was lured out of his crease by Murali, but the batsman got back just in time. A sweep behind square from Parore erned him a boundary, thanks largely to a Dharmasena misfield, and the 25th over ended with the New Zealand hundred being brought up, received with some sardonic applause from the crowd.
With Jayasuriya extracting significant turn as well, Ranatunga was able to be even more adventurous with his field settings. Jayasuriya bowled with only a short fine leg inside the circle on the on-side, obviously inviting the batsman to attempt to work the ball through the huge gaps. The outfielders were deliberately positioned 10 yards in from the boundary, hoping to snap up any resulting mishits.
The runs continued to come at a trickle, and finally in the thirtieth over, the electric Sri Lankan fielding won them their just rewards, when the Elvis-sideburned McMillan was run out by a brilliant piece of work by Upul Chandana. At the thirty over mark, New Zealand were 118-4, with Parore, and hero of the pre- quarter final Chris Harris, together at the crease. A total of around 250 does not look impossible from here, but anything less would leave New Zealand with perhaps too much to do in the field.
40 overs: Spinners continue to dominate
As Chris Harris joined Adam Parore at the crease there was an expectant buzz amongst the obviously knowledgeable crowd. To a man they seemed to recall his heroic efforts against Zimbabwe, and whole sections of the crowd rose from their seats in anticipation. However, Harris was clearly not looking to force the pace at once, and came in looking to work singles, mindful of the relative lack of depth in the batting order.
With a lot of pressure on the two Kiwis to bat through the overs neither could afford to take a chance, and the run rate dropped to a meagre 3.8 per over at the 35 over mark. Worse was to follow, when Chris Harris missed the line of one that turned in from just outside off stump, and umpire Peter Willey had no hesitation in giving him out leg before wicket. The decision may have been a bit harsh, the ball perhaps missing leg stump, but the end result was that New Zealand went into the drinks interval after 35.3 overs at 134 for 5, with the 250 run target looking well out of reach.
With Harris out, the crowd resorted to the local version of the Mexican Wave for entertainment, seemingly secure in the knowledge that it would be a while before either Parore or Tait looked to launch a counter attack of any proportion. Tait in particular was very keen to show off his immaculate defensive technique, treating the bowlers with the utmost request.
Sadly, it was all to no avail, and when Murali was re-introduced in the 40th over, he struck immediately, spinning one through Tait’s defences and bowling him. Daniel Vettori replaced him at the crease, and at the end of the over, New Zealand were left at 152 for 6.
50 overs: New Zealand disappoint
As New Zealand continued to struggle against the Sri Lankan spinners, they were relying on Adam Parore to somehow make something of their innings, and guide them to a defendable total. Unfortunately for the Black Caps, this just wasn’t to be their day. Parore had played a very disciplined innings of 54, while he watched his team crumble around him, but the moment he chose to start putting his foot on the accelerator, he succumbed. Looking to loft the off spin of Kumara Dharmasena over long on, he succeeded only in holing out to Upul Chandana, who judged the catch very well right on the boundary.
Vettori and Doull continued to work the singles, as the Kiwis struggled to work their way to 200, and a modicum of respectability. One arm ball later, Vettori was walking back to the pavilion, having aimed a pull at Muralitharan, but only managing to get a bottom edge thrugh to the keeper.
The rest of the New Zealand tail had very little to offer in the way of resistance, or in the way of run scoring efforts. Simon Doull ran himself out, Paul Wiseman found it difficult to penetrate the infield, and it wasn’t long before Allott was run out by Mahanama, bringing the innings to an end.
188 is definitely a sub-par score, even on a track that is providing some assistance to the bowlers. Stephen Fleming would have been looking to a score of over 250, and will now have to hope that one of his bowlers can produce a magical effort and run through the Sri Lankan batting.
188 is a poor total at the best of times. But India won the 1983 World Cup with just 183, and New Zealand came out onto the field in defense of their target, looking determined to atone for their disastrous effort with the bat.
The crowd roared with anticipation, their deafening cheers urging on Simon Doull, or was it Sanath Jayasuriya, as the Kiwi ran in to deliver the first ball of the innings. A moment later, there was an instant of stunned silence, followed by another loud cheer. Jayasuriya, gone first ball, poking at a perfect length delivery just outside his offstump, and edging into the waiting hands of Adam Parore. Marvan Attapatu got off the mark with a single, but it was Simon Doull who won the plaudits of the crowd, the 35 thousand locals in the stadium clearly appreciating the magnitude of what he had done.
Two overs later, and Doull struck again, this time removing Jayasuriyas replacement, Marvan Attapatu. It wasn't a great delivery from Doull, short and wide of off stump, and Attapatu couldn't resist, and the resultant edge was once again gratefully accepted by Parore. The crowd were by now in a state of delirium and disbelief, and Sri Lanka in a state of disarray at 4 for 2.
Another three balls, and this time it was Geoff Allott's turn to get in on the act. Aravinda de Silva played an airy drive at a ball which seamed away from him outside the off stump, and Nathan Astle held a smart catch in the slips. The crowd, many of whom must surely have been here to watch Jayasuriya and de Silva bat erupted in delight. At the non strikers end, little Romesh Kaluwitherana could only look on in disgust. Four overs, and Sri Lanka in deep trouble at 7 for 3.
Simon Doull in particular was working up a lively pace, extracting significant lift out of the wicket as well. The lift off the wicket however was nothing to match the lift Doull got directly out of his hand, when in his fifth over he sent a full toss sailing yards over the batsman and wicket keeper, conceding five runs in the process.
10 overs: lights out for Sri Lanka?
Vettori replaced Doull in the 6th over. Kalu saw his chance to wrest the initiative from New Zealand, smacking Vettori's fourth ball to the backward point boundary. Ranatunga, who was unusually keen to get to the other end and have a crack at Vettori took up the challenge and drove Allott beautifully through the covers off the bottom of the bat. But he could make nothing of Vettori in the next over and narrowly missed gifting an edge to Parore.
In the 10th over with Tait shaping up to bowl his first over the crowd let out a huge cheer as the floodlights spluttered and failed. Fortunately the cause was a power spike and play resumed a few minutes later with wags in the press box wondering if the interruption had been orchestrated by the Sri Lankans. Kaluwitherana struggled to get Tait away, who bowled a good line and length, and an uppish drive almost reached mid off off the second ball. A leg bye off the fourth ball was the only run of the over.
15 overs: Ranatunga fights back
Ranatunga dispatched the first ball of Tait's next over to the mid wicket boundary. The batsmen took a leg bye on the third and, taking a lead from his captain, Kalu cut the next square for four. In an attempt to break the partnership, now close to 50 runs, Fleming brought Doull back on for Vettori, but the fast bowler failed to find his form of the first few overs, bowling, in successive balls, a long hop, a near-wide and free hit down the leg side. Still Fleming saw fit to call the changes and brought on Harris for Tait. With his medium pace causing Kalu no trouble, Harris shied at the stumps in frustration after fielding Kalu's push off his third delivery
Ranatunga, perhaps sensing the New Zealanders starting to flag took the attack to Doull. He cut Doull's second ball, which was only a little overpitched and marginally outside off stump. The crowd were roaring for more and Ranatunga duly delivered, chipping the next ball square on the off side to the boundary.
20 overs: Sri Lanka back on course
Kalu kept the crowd waiting for their newly adopted hero as he fended Harris' first four deliveries away. He slid the next fine, straight into the path of Fleming, but Ranatunga wanted the run and narrowly made it home, helped by a poor throw. Sri Lanka's captain demonstrated his confidence in coming to meet the next ball on the front foot and driving it to mid off for a single. Fleming then brought on Wiseman for Doull, and briefly the change to the right hand off spinner held the Sri Lankans in check as Ranatunga failed to pick his looping deliveries. Fleming kept the Lankans thinking by bringing Vettori back on. Ranatunga had the better of the over, however, steering the ball twice backwards of point for two runs each time. Wiseman continued to keep the Lankans in check and found some spin in the pitch, working the ball vigorously out of the hand. The fifth ball turned full into the face of Ranatunga who was trying to sweep it square. The Lankan captain had his revenge, dismissing the next delivery, which pitched outside leg, to long leg for four.
Kalu, who had been quiet for a few overs, came to life again in the next over, turning Vettori's first two balls round the corner to the long pavillion boundary for four and tiring out a lumbering Doull at backward square leg.
30 overs: steady Sri Lanka
The Lankans' steady scoring prompted another change, this time bringing on McMillan. But the medium pacer could make no impact.
Kaluwitharana brought up the century off the first ball of the next over, sweeping to square leg. Ranatunga survived a run out attempt off the fifth that looked almost too close to call as Harris beamed the ball in from square leg but the third umpire spotted Vettori dropping the ball as he broke the wicket. With obvious relief he dispatched the next for three runs through mid off and brought up his 50.
McMillan was ineefective in the next over, and Fleming gambled on an Allott recall. But for a leg before appeal, Allott carried none of the threat of the first few overs and the Lankan run rate dropped to three an over as Ranatunga and Kaluwitharana made easy ones and two behind the wicket. McMillan could fare no better at the other end in his next. It seemed only umpire Shepherd could staunch the Sri Lankan flow, calling a run short off McMillan's last ball. Steady Lankan ones and twos off the next three overs kept the crowd quiet. Fleming's decision to persevere with McMillan in the face of his earlier chopping and changing seemed an admission of Sri Lankan dominance. Ranatunga underlined just how far the match had swung, butchering McMillan's second ball of the 29th over for four through straight mid off.
New Zealand were due a change in luck, but instead they made their own. Vettori returned for Astle, Kalu hit the first ball to cover and Astle made a direct hit at the bowler's end to run the Lankan opener out. But the Kiwis were in need of at least another two breakthroughs if they were to stop the Lankans march to victory.
End: Sri Lanka cruise home
Incoming batsman Roshan Mahanama would hardly have asked for an easier task, coming in with less than 50 runs to score with more than a hundred deliveries in hand. He showed confidence in sweeping Vettori in his second over, but was happy to leave the scoring to in-form Ranatunga. After the pair broke 150 runs Fleming opted for another bowling change, bringing back Wiseman, who had spun the ball earlier with some success. The change, or perhaps simply Sri Lankan ennui, brought immediate success. Mahanama holed out trying to send Wiseman's third ball over the square leg boundary, as Allott ran round behind square to take a good catch at shoulder height.
Vettori, whose thin rimmed glasses make him look for all the world like a merchant banker on a day off, made good use of the advantage tying new batsman Chandana up in the next over. The Sri Lankan batsman made his mark in the next over, the 38th, driving a tired looking Wiseman cleanly through mid on for four. Vettori, having completed his alloted spell, gave way to Harris. Chandana drove his fifth for a crowd pleasing four, right back over the bowler's head, putting Sri Lanka within 18 runs of victory, with 72 deliveries in hand.
With seemingly no end to the changes in bowling, Allott returned at the pavillion for the 39th over. New Zealand luck seemed to be running out as Allott's fourth ball beat the batsmen and keeper for four byes, and his next two balls conceded two runs leaving Sri Lanka needing 12 to win. The end now in sight, Chandana cut Harris for four in the 40th over. It was left to Geoff Allott to attempt the impossible in the 41st over, and he did all that his captain could have expected of him, conceding just two runs.
Unfortunately, it was not to be enough, and in the 42nd over, Ranatunga took advantage of an overthrow to complete the victory.
New Zealand certainly did well to make the Sri Lankans work as hard as they had to, but they will be left to ruminate over what might have been, had they put things together with the bat.
Source: CricInfo
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