Lynn McConnell
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2nd ODI: New Zealand v Sri Lanka at Wellington (WTS), 3 Feb 2001 Lynn McConnell |
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Sri Lanka innings:
Pre-game: New Zealand innings: |
The slightly built middle-order batsman steered his side home with an unbeaten innings of 78 not out in the 49th over, Sri Lanka's last after its earlier poor bowling rate, to secure a 2-0 lead for the visitors and to extend New Zealand's losing run
Sri Lanka bowled their overs so slowly that match referee Peter Burge of Australia took an over off them but they got home with three balls to spare.
New Zealand defended its total of 204/7 with determination but ultimately it paid the price for the failure of its top order batting.
There was vastly improved quality in the Kiwi fielding, none better than wicket-keeper Adam Parore's diving catch for the first dismissal of the innings to remove Atapattu. There was also Mathew Sinclair's superb throw to remove Mahela Jayawardene at a crucial stage of the innings when he was batting with Aravinda de Silva.
It was ironic that one blemish, when 20 balls remained 12th man Andrew Penn failed to control a ball that should have resulted in only one but which went through his hands and on to the boundary for four. It took key performer Russel Arnold to 66. Ultimately, it didn't matter but in the developing pressure it was a let off.
Daniel Vettori continued his impressive return from injury with another controlled spell of bowling. Frugal as ever, he had reward for accuracy and perseverance when trapping de Silva leg before wicket for 37 which broke a potentially worrying partnership of 63 off 94 balls with Russel Arnold. He took one for 30 from his 10 overs.
At the time of his dismissal in the 39th over, the required run rate for Sri Lanka had just slipped over six an over.
Skipper Stephen Fleming continued the fielding excellence with a direct hit on the stumps to run out Kumar Dharmasena, the ball after a third umpire adjudication was needed over whether fielder Chris Martin had touched the boundary rope in fielding the ball. It was ruled he hadn't and Dharmasena was left to face bowler Franklin.
The first ball he faced he hit around the corner to Fleming at square leg and the Kiwi skipper picked the ball up and hit the stumps with Dharmasena well out of his ground.
With 13 balls remaining and 15 runs needed, Upashantha became a sacrificial victim for Arnold to get down the other end to keep the strike for the start of the penultimate over. Harris at gully swooped in on the ball and scooped, rugby halfback dive pass fashion, to break the wickets.
The former New Zealand coach, now back with New South Wales, made a point of attacking through fielding, and that's what New Zealand did when attempting to defend their low total of 204/7.
Wicket-keeper Adam Parore set the trend with a superb diving catch to his right to remove Marvan Atapattu for five in the seventh over. Atapattu got a quicker ball from Chris Martin which did just enough to catch an edge.
The ball looked in danger of not quite carrying to first slip Stephen Fleming, who had dived to his left in anticipation of a chance, but Parore appeared from nowhere diving in to scoop up the catch just before it hit the grass.
With the opening pair of Martin and James Franklin keeping things tight and around 3.5 an over, it was Jacob Oram who proved an unlikely destroyer. He had Kumar Sangakkera caught by a diving Nathan Astle at wide mid on for 13 and then two overs later Parore caught a ball which feathered Jayasuriya's gloves and Oram had his first two wickets in ODIs.
However, the experienced Aravinda de Silva gave him a reminder of the realities of the international game by hitting the first ball he received for six.
Mahela Jayawardene looked to be settling in for a big innings when he tried to take on Mathew Sinclair's arm. Sinclair had already made several outstanding saves in the gully area, but on this occasion he latched onto the ball and threw down the wickets at the bowler's end to have Jayawardene well out of his ground and on his way for seven.
After 30 overs, Sri Lanka was 106/4 with de Silva on 21 and Russel Arnold on 13. New Zealand at the same stage was 111/3.
He lost fellow opener Marvan Atapattu with the score on 23 in the seventh over. But took toll of anything loose from opening bowlers Chris Martin and James Franklin.
Jayasuriya dominated the early stages and had five fours from his 29 runs. He saw the 50 up in the 15th over off 87 balls and was 31 not out with the side on 52/1. Kumar Sangakkara was 10 not out.
Martin had the first success when having Atapattu beautifully caught by wicket-keeper Adam Parore diving to his right and securing the ball just above the grass.
It was the continuation of good work by Parore in the game. He scored his most runs in a single innings, 35, since November 1999, 24 innings ago.
New Zealand's top order bowlers had a sound start with Martin's first six overs resulting in one for 22 while left-arm medium-fast bowler James Franklin and none for 18 from his first six overs.
Sri Lanka was able to use four slow bowlers to send down 30 overs, and resulted in yet another low-scoring one-dayer in New Zealand this summer.
The one comfort for New Zealand was the application of batsmen when the top order was knocked over early. After the frustration of the first game loss, the middle-order players put away their million dollar shots and grafted the singles and twos in order to keep the score ticking over.
The penultimate over, bowled by Dilhara Fernando, proved most welcome for New Zealand. His first two balls were no balls from which New Zealand scored five runs. He did claim the wickets of Jacob Oram and Adam Parore, the latter for 35 scored off 48 balls.
He bowled another no ball and a wide to end up conceding 12 runs from the over to help New Zealand ever closer to the 200 mark.
New Zealand were made to struggle as their top order failed again. The 34 runs scored by the opening pair proved a false dawn for any hopes that both Nathan Astle and Mathew Sinclair had regained their better touches.
Astle scored 17 before failing to get the ball above the diminutive Aravinda de Silva at mid on from Nuwan Zoysa's bowling. Then Stephen Fleming's short time at the crease in the series to date was extended by three balls when he edged Zoysa to wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara for a duck.
Sinclair proved unable to last the distance and on 20 he got the faintest of edges to off spinner Kumar Dharmasena.
Further bad news followed when the score was 62 as Roger Twose had to leave the field with a sprained thumb, x-rays revealed no break, after a mid-pitch collision with Craig McMillan. Twose was on 11 at the time.
That left McMillan and new batsman Chris Harris to try and deny the Sri Lankans wickets while slowly re-assembling the innings.
They took the only possible option and worked the singles long and hard in the hope that a total in excess of 200 might still be possible.
They worked well until Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya's bowling proved too tempting to McMillan. Looking to launch into a ball, he hit the ball back to him and was caught and bowled for 37 off 63 balls.
Harris carried on however, and scored his 11th ODI half century. He took 80 balls and the evidence of the graft involved was clear from the fact he hit only one boundary. When he passed six earlier, he registered his 3000th ODI run, the sixth New Zealander to achieve the feat.
With McMillan gone, Adam Parore joined Harris and they achieved a 50-run partnership as well, passing the milestone off 70 balls.
Just as he looked set to cash in during the last three overs, Harris was bowled by left-arm pace man Nuwan Zoysa for 56. New Zealand, in the 48th over was 184/5.
If nothing else, the batsmen held off the threat of Mutiah Muralitharan who went wicketless for 40 runs from his 10 overs.
Kumar Dharmasena helped slow the scoring momentum with his off spinners giving up 25 runs from the eight overs he bowled while Jayasuriya had one for 32 from his nine.
With Nathan Astle, Stephen Fleming and Mathew Sinclair back in the pavilion with only 48 runs on the board, the signs were not good.
Then after setting about making a recovery, Roger Twose and Craig McMillan had reached 62 when they collided with each other while running a single. Both were guilty of ball watching. At the end of the over, Twose summoned the team physiotherapist and was obviously in trouble with his left hand.
After the application of cooling spray did not work, he left the field and it was learned that he had a suspected sprain of the thumb and was taken to hospital for a precautionary x-ray. Chris Harris was required to come out in only the 18th over to get New Zealand back on track.
Getting runs was like drawing teeth from the Sri Lankans who sensed their chance to further embarrass the home team. Boundaries were few and far between as they attempted to work the singles against the Sri Lankan slow ball attack of Mutiah Muralitharan, Kumar Dharmasena and Aravinda de Silva who, while he has 89 ODI wickets, could only best be described as a wily campaigner.
The two Cantabrians ran together well, minimised the risk factor and when McMillan cut Muralitharan for four in the 30th over, it was only the second boundary of their partnership.
At the end of the 30th over, New Zealand were 111/3 with McMillan on 29 and Harris on 22. Muralitharan had no wickets for 14 off five overs while Dharmasena had one for 15 off five overs.
At 41/2 at the start of the 11th over it was another poor start from the home side which is battling to regain the sort of touch that saw it take out the ICC KnockOut tournament in Nairobi in October.
Beaten by 61 runs in Napier in the first ODI in the series, New Zealand decided to bat first in good conditions after winning the toss.
Astle and Mathew Sinclair made a sound start by taking the score through to 34. Astle had unleashed some of his trademark drives which suggested a good score was in the offing. But on 17 he attempted to loft a drive over mid on but didn't get onto the shot and Aravinda de Silva plucked the ball from the air one-handed.
Stephen Fleming then joined Sinclair, who unleashed a lovely boundary in the next over. But from only the third ball he faced, from left-arm speedster Nuwan Zoysa, Fleming edged the ball straight to wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara to be out for a duck. His second of the series.
Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya, sensing he had New Zealand by the throat again, immediately called his ace care off spinner Mutiah Muralitharan to bowl the 12th over to keep the pressure on the home side.
Seventeen balls went unscored from before the incoming batsman Roger Twose pulled a ball from Zoysa high to mid-wicket.
After drinks were taken when 14 overs were completed, Sinclair departed to the second ball after the resumption bowled by Kumar Dharmasena. Sinclair sent the faintest of edges to wicket-keeper Sangakkara who held the catch. After 15 overs New Zealand was 49/3 with Twose on six and Craig McMillan on one.
New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming won the toss and decided to bat first against Sri Lanka in the second of the five-game National Bank series.
Sri Lanka won the first game by thrashing New Zealand by 61 runs in Napier in the opening game.
Sri Lanka is fielding the same team as in the opening game while New Zealand has predictably made one change with Jacob Oram coming into the side instead of the hapless Andrew Penn who ran into problems with his bowling and only sent down four overs in the game. He bowled eight wides which cost 12 runs in the game.
Conditions in Wellington are perfect with fine conditions and a slight breeze.
The teams are:
New Zealand - Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Mathew Sinclair, Roger Twose, Jacob Oram, Craig McMillan, Chris Harris, Adam Parore, James Franklin, Daniel Vettori, Chris Martin. Andrew Penn (12th man).
Sri Lanka - Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Kumar Dharmasena, Eric Upashantha, Nuwan Zoysa, Mutiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando. Avishaka Gunawardene.
The umpires are: Steve Dunne and Dave Quested. Tony Hill is third umpire.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 03 Feb2001 - 18:23