Sri Lanka 243 for 9 (50 overs; Atapattu 82, Sangakkara 50, Harris 3-43) beat New Zealand 197 (50 overs; McMillan 49) by 46 runs
scorecard

Marvan Atapattu continued his superb batting touch to lift Sri Lanka into the Sharjah Cup final with a 46-run demolition of New Zealand. Atapattu hit 82, his third successive half-century in the tournament, as Sri Lanka piled up 243 for 9 from their stipulated 50 overs and then restricted the Kiwis to 197 for 9.

Craig McMillan played a lone hand for New Zealand with 49 as none of the other frontline batsmen managed to cross 20. Left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas took 2 for 8 from seven overs. Offspinner Kumar Dharmasena finished with 2 for 42.

"It's a semi-final situation for us and we are really looking forward to that game," said New Zealand's captain Stephen Fleming, looking ahead to the showdown with Pakistan.

Atapattu's brilliant strokeplay lifted Sri Lanka to 162 for 2, before a disciplined New Zealand attack grabbed seven wickets for 62 runs. The Sri Lankans were reduced to 224 for 9, but the last-wicket pair of Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa added 19 valuable runs. Chris Harris claimed 3 for 43, while Ian Butler tied down the Sri Lankans with 2 for 32 from 10 overs. Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara (50) put on 114 for the second wicket after skipper Sanath jayasuriya was trapped leg-before by Daryl Tuffy off the third ball of the innings. Mahela Jayawardena, who made 39, was the only other batsman to settle in as three of the top six batsmen failed to reach double figures.

Fleming returned to the New Zealand side after missing the previous match against Pakistan due to a finger injury, but the Kiwis lost the services of wicketkeeper Chris Nevin. Nevin suffered a hamstring injury during practice before the start of play, forcing Matthew Sinclair to keep wicket.

Sinclair picked up a smart catch off Harris to remove Tillekeratne Dilshan for 2 as Sri Lanka lost three middle-order batsmen for seven runs. Atapattu was bowled by Butler, who also trapped Russel Arnold leg-before for 1. At the other end, Harris dismissed Jayawardena and Upul Chandana cheaply and took a diving catch in the deep to remove Muttiah Muralitharan.

Vaas rocked New Zealand's start by trapping Matt Horne with the first ball of the innings. Nathan Astle's sudden slump in form after an outstanding series against England showed no signs of ending as he gave Vaas a return catch after making 14. Nuwan Zoysa had Harris leg-before and when Fleming was bowled round his legs by Kumar harmasena, the Kiwis had slumped to 74 for 4.

McMillan's late flourish, which included a straight six off Jayasuriya, only delayed the end as the Sri Lankan bowlers ran through the Kiwi lower order.

New Zealand 1 Nathan Astle, 2 Chris Nevin (wk), 3 Craig McMillan, 4 Stephen Fleming (capt), 5 Chris Harris, 6 Matthew Sinclair, 7 Scott Styris, 8 Jacob Oram, 9 James Franklin, 10 Ian Butler, 11 Daryl Tuffey

Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 2 Kumar Sangakkara, 3 Marvan Atapattu, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Russel Arnold, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Upal Chandana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Kumar Dharmasena, 10 Nuwan Zoysa, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

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