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 | | Tuesday, 9 April, 2002, 19:00 GMT 20:00 UK NZ upset Sri Lanka  New Zealand won with an inexperienced side Sharjah Cup: Match Two: New Zealand 218-9 (50 overs) beat Sri Lanka 207 all out (49.1 overs) New Zealand pulled off a surprise win over Sri Lanka in the second match of the Sharjah Cup. Sri Lanka, who beat Pakistan in the tournament opener on Monday, had been well placed on 125 for two, but stumbled dramatically in the final overs. Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene rebuilt the Sri Lankan innings after early losses but their departures saw their side grind to a halt. New Zealand had responded to the challenge of defending a low total by taking the early wickets of Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakarra. Pick off singles The Black Caps were unable to capitalise initially as Atapattu and Jayawardene slowly built up a significant partnership. Atapattu eventually reached his half-century from 79 balls, including seven fours. However, the innings was turned on its head when the pair departed within three overs of each other. First, Jayawardene picked out Tuffey off the bowling of Scott Styris and then Atapattu fell for 61 off the bowling of Chris Harris. Sri Lanka's innings slowed dramatically with the loss of the key pair and things got even worse as wickets tumbled with batsmen attempting to hit out. Nathan Astle removed Sri Lanka's last frontline batsman, Romesh Kaluwitharana, and Styris picked up two more with the wickets of Upul Chandana and Chaminda Vaas. When Russel Arnold was caught behind by Chris Nevin, atoning for previous mistakes, the game was up for Sri Lanka.
Earlier, Jacob Oram struck 46 from just 33 balls to take New Zealand past 200, after it appeared that Muttiah Muralitharan was about to swallow up the Black Caps tail. Muralitharan took five wickets in two bursts to set back New Zealand at vital times. The Black Caps had been threatening a recovery after getting off to a disastrous start, losing Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan to Nuwan Zoysa with only 31 on the board. Chris Nevin and Stephen Fleming had stabilized the situation, putting on a handy partnership of 55 before the introduction of Muralitharan changed the complexion of the game again. The Sri Lankan master removed the New Zealand captain, new batsman Scott Styris and then Nevin, with New Zealand collapsing to 99 for five. Chris Harris and Mathew Sinclair added 56 for the sixth wicket before Muralitharan removed both in consecutive overs to leave New Zealand's tail exposed. However, Oram then took over, treating Muralitharan with deference but thrashing the rest of Sri Lanka's bowling attack. Muralitharan finished the innings with remarkable figures of 5 for nine from his 10 overs. New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Matthew Sinclair, Craig McMillan, Chris Harris, Chris Nevin, James Franklin, Scott Styris, Daryl Tuffy, Jacob Oram, Ian Butler. 12th man: Andre Adams. Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Russel Arnold, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Charitha Buddika, Nuwan Zoysa, Upul Chandana. 12th man: Kumar Dharmasena. Umpires: Srinivas Venkataraghavan (Ind), Russel Tiffin (Zim) Third umpire: David Shepherd (Eng) Match referee: Gundappa Vishwanath (Ind) | |
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