A superb show by Sri Lankans in super over

super over saw Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by five runs in the first super eight match played at Pallekele International Stadium, on Thursday.

Sri Lanka scored 174 for six in reply to New Zealand’s 174 for seven in 20 overs and the super over was implemented. Sri Lanka made 13 for one wicket in the single over bowled by Tim Southee before Lasith Malinga restricting New Zealanders for 8 runs. T. M. Dilshan took a well-judged catch at long off in the fifth ball to make things easy for Malinga in the last ball, where only two leg byes were give.

Chasing 175, Sri Lanka got off to a brilliant start as Mahela Jayawardene and T. M. Dilshan added 80 runs for the first wicket in 44 balls and Sri Lanka posted 100 runs in 60 balls.

Dashing Dilshan, who became the second Sri Lankan to reach 1000 runs in T20 international cricket on Thursday, hit a stylish 76 in 53 balls with five boundaries and three towering sixes.

Sri Lanka was cruising along towards the victory by 15th over with 133 for 3 on the board and Dilshan was unbeaten on 56. However, Dilshan’s run out in the penultimate over put Sri Lanka under pressure.

In the last over, Sri Lanka needed 8 runs and Tim Southee was bowling to a plan before Thirimanne hit a Dil’s scoop to dispatch the ball to square leg boundary.

The match was tied and Sri Lanka needed a single off the last ball to win the match. Thirimanne took the ball in his body and ran for a single. The throw came from short extra cover and Ross Taylor fumbled but the ball had somehow found the stumps and a bail was off before Thirimanne reach home and the scores were leveled.

Rob Nicol blasted 58 off 43 balls to guide New Zealand to a comfortable 174 for 7.

Nicol, who was playing second fiddle to Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum when they were in the middle, hit three fours and four massive sixes. He hit 20 runs of Ajantha Mendis with three sixes that cost Sri Lanka’s number one spinner 24 in the over. He went for 48 runs in his four overs.

Sri Lanka gave away too many runs in the first 10 overs as New Zealanders were sitting in a box seat with 80 for one wicket at the half way mark.

Nuwan Kulasekara and Angelo Mathews gave the best possible start to Sri Lanka attack by restricting New Zealand openers to four runs in the first two overs. Yet, Nicol and Guptill smashed 13 runs in the next over to inject momentum to the New Zealand innings. Teenager, Akila Dhananjaya made a dream debut by claiming his maiden international wicket in his third ball.  Guptill hit him over mid-off but Thisara Perera gobbled the catch on boundary line.

Lasith Malinga was a sorry sight giving away 16 runs in his first two overs and was also sloppy on the field. Sri Lanka decided to go ahead with Ajantha Mendis, who played with pain killing injection alongside Dhananjaya. New Zealanders packed the team with experience as 10 of their 11 players have playing experience against Sri Lanka.

By Daminda Wijesuriya
Source: Daily Mirror(Sri Lanka)