They just destroyed us in the first ten overs: Fleming
Rex Clementine - 31 July 2001
After a disappointing performance by New Zealand, the Kiwi captain
Stephen Fleming still remained positive about his side's chances of
making it to the Coca-Cola Cup final.
"I think we've got a good chance. If India lose tomorrow we are
through to the final. We can put aside this dismal performance and
come back with a good one when we meet India," said Fleming whose
side was comprehensively beaten by Sri Lanka by 107 runs.
"Very disappointing performance. But once again the Sri Lankans
played exceptionally well. We didn't push hard in this game,"
reflected Fleming. "We've never played on this ground. So we didn't
know what's a good score. The partnerships helped the Sri Lankans to
put up a good score."
The Black Caps so far in the tournament have been struggling against
spin. But this time around the fast bowlers did most of the damage,
"The fast bowlers really bowled well. They achieved a lot of movement
and took the game away from us. They just destroyed us in the first
ten overs," said Fleming.
Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya was thrilled about his side's
performance. "It was a good all-round performance. It was nice to go
past 220 and then the bowlers did very well to restrict them. The
cream of the batting was back in the pavilion by the 10th over."
Fleming put Sri Lanka in on winning the toss. Jayasuriya revealed he
would have done the same had he had won the toss. "It was a good toss
to lose. I would have bowled first had I won the toss."
Jayasuriya was also happy with the way the batsmen played. "All the
batsmen are among the runs. That's what is important. Only Mahela was
struggling and now he's among the runs as well. After this, his
confidence level was high and this was evident in the field."
Sri Lanka are through to the final and when asked as whether they
would rest some of the players to give others a chance, Jayasuriya
said, "We haven't decided on the team for the Indian game yet."
Man of the match Chaminda Vaas bowled a superb spell of fast bowling
changing the cause of the game as he sent back three of the top order
batsmen back to the pavilion in his first spell.
"I would have loved to bowl first. The conditions were ideal for fast
bowling. But things worked very well for me later in the day," said
the Sri Lankan fast bowler. "I loved the wicket of Jacob Oram. The
ball really moved away from the batsman."
Vaas who bowled a first spell of 5-1-10-3 did not get any wickets in
his second spell, "I would have loved to end up with five wickets and
Sanath gave me a second spell as well but it didn't work."
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