A brilliant bowling performance by New Zealand’s pace bowling attack has restricted Sri Lanka to a mere 136 in their World Cup opener.
Send in to bat first on a greener surface by Kane Williamson, the Islanders’ wretched fate started firing in as early as the second ball. Following a boundary on the very first delivery, Matt Henry dismissed Lahiru Thirimanne with a rather easy LBW.
The likes of Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera gave Sri Lanka a hope with a 42-run stand, but as everyone predicted, it was never going to last longer. The Lankan Lions lost the plot and from 46/1, they went to 50/3 by the end of the ninth over.
The flood gates were kept wide open and even an experienced Angelo Mathews couldn’t help his team in building a respectable total. By the end of the first powerplay, Sri Lanka had posted a mere 51 at a loss of three wickets.
Lockie Ferguson and Colin de Grandhomme were brought into the second powerplay, and the plot was all the same. Both the bowlers, in their very first over, took one wicket each, with the former dismissing Dhananjaya de Silva, while the later sent Mathews back to the stands.
Within 10 more runs, Sri Lanka were down to six.
Sustaining the pressure, Thisara Perera along with Karunaratne steadied the ship, playing a 52-run stand and taking Sri Lanka past 100, but an off-time shot off Santner’s delivery by the former meant that Sri Lanka were once again left in the middle of nowhere.
Playing with just one spinner and two all-rounders paid dividends, but that didn’t seem to have any effect as New Zealand haunt the Islanders to mere perfection. Captain Karunaratne, with his unbeaten 52 off 84 deliveries, remained the only positive for Sri Lanka, as he became only the second batsman in World Cup history to carry his bat right till the end.
As far as bowling is concerned, the likes of Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson picked three each, while Trent Boult, Neesham, Santner and Grandhomme picked one.
Meanwhile, post the 2015 World Cup, 70% of the matches have been won by the team which has taken three wickets in the opening powerplay. Will the trend continue?
