New Zealand bowlers stuck to a disciplined line to skittle out Sri Lanka for a paltry 138 inside 38 overs in a group A league encounter of the ICC Champions Trophy here today.
Barring former skipper Kumar Sangakkara who stood tall amidst ruins, scoring 68 off 87 balls with eight boundaries, others simply didn’t have any clue against controlled seam bowling by seasoned Kyle Mills (2/14) and left—arm seamer Mitchell McClenaghan (4/43).
Spinners Daniel Vettori (1/16) and offie Nathan McCullum (2/23) also complemented the pacers well as Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals.
Such was the dismal show of the batsmen that as many as eight out of 11 failed to reach double figures.
As Sangakkara waged a lone battle, he never had anyone who was able to stay long enough to put up a semblance of fight.
It was skipper Brendon McCullum’s inspirational catch in the slips off the very first delivery of the match that set the tone. Kusal Perera (0) flashed hard at an outgoing delivery from Mills as McCullum pulled off a stunner in the slip cordon.
Tillakaratne Dilshan (20) hit a few boundaries before he was cleaned up by McClenaghan with a fuller delivery.
Their miseries compounded when Mahela Jayawardene (4) padded an arm ball from Vettori, while talented Dinesh Chandimal (0) got an inside edge off Mills.
At 34 for four, Angelo Mathews (9) joined Sangakkara and the duo added 31 runs before the shipper shuffled a wee bit too much to lose his leg—stump off McClenaghan.
The other notable partnership was between Sangakkara and Thisara Perera (15) for seventh wicket that yielded 36 runs.
Sangakkara hit some exquisite shots as he completed his 50 off 70 balls with five boundaries. He was the eighth batsmen to get out as he tried to hit McCullum against turn as he offered a simple catch to Kane Williamson at short third man.