Samaraweera sets up a huge win for Sri Lanka by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Scorecard:	Sri Lanka v New Zealand
Player:	TT Samaraweera, SE Bond, SL Malinga
Event:	Compaq Cup 2009

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DateLine: 8th September 2009

 

It was a superb comeback by the home side as the Lankan side fought back to defeat a resurgent New Zealand side by 97 runs. After electing to bat first they were reduced to 69 for 5, but fought back through Samaraweera and Mathews to put up a decent total on a track that was slow and low. Malinga was the wrecker-in-chief with the ball as he took four wickets to stunt New Zealand's progress. The Lankan bowlers never allowed the batsmen to settle down and kept on picking wickets at regular intervals and eventually ran through the New Zealand line-up in just 36.1 overs.

 

Sri Lanka scored 216 for the loss of seven wickets in their stipulated 50 overs while New Zealand in reply were restricted to just 119 runs losing all their wickets.

 

Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and the Lankan team was aiming for a quick start. Dilshan got an streaky boundary but then Tuffey who was making a return to international arena struck back the very next ball. Bond got one to bounce sharp to catch Jayawardene's top edge and Ross Taylor pouched him at the first slip. Sanath Jayasuriya departed in the eighth over after his ambitious cut off Bond found Ian Butler in the third man region, leaving the team struggling at 22 for three.

 

Butler soon joined the party by dismissing skipper Kumar Sangakkara with Jacob Oram taking a good running catch and Vettori got Kandamby's wicket to push the Lankan side deeper into trouble. Samaraweera joined hands with Mathews when the team was tottering at 69 for five after 25.3 overs. The duo handled the situation sensibly, showed good understanding in stealing singles by placing the ball into the gaps and refrained from taking unnecessary risks. The partnership came to an end when Bond deceived Mathews and rocked his stumps, followed by Samaraweera's dismissal by Butler in the penultimate over of the innings.

 

New Zealand in reply got off to the worst possible start as they lost the top-order with practically nothing on the scoreboard. Jesse Ryder was the first to go when he was trapped lbw in the second over by Thilan Thushara. Martin Guptill was caught behind the wicket as he drove off the back foot. In the same over Ross Taylor was adjudged lbw for and the score was 7 for 3.

 

McCullum and Elliot held out for sometime before Malinga disturbed McCullum's furniture to create another hole in the Kiwi scorecard. Two deliveries later Malinga drew an edge off Jacob Oram's bat to Sangakkara who held on. With his next ball, Malinga hurled down a ripper through Nathan McCullum as New Zealand had no answer to what was happening around. Elliot and Butler hung around to make the margin of defeat look respectable but they could not prevent the inevitable.