Friday, September 4, 2009

New Zealand wins Twenty20 series 2-0 against Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Seamer Shane Bond picked up three wickets Friday to propel New Zealand to a 22-run win against Sri Lanka in its second and final Twenty20 match to give the tourists a 2-0 series victory.

The Black Caps made an imposing 170-4 batting first and then bowled tightly to restrict the hosts to just 148-8 off their 20 overs.

Jesse Ryder top-scored for New Zealand with 52 runs and shared an 84-run opening partnership with Brendon McCullum, who struck an aggressive 49.

Needing more than eight runs per over, Sri Lanka was soon in trouble losing three wickets for 11 runs.

Bond produced the first breakthrough with his fifth ball, having Tillakaratne Dilshan caught by Martin Guptill for just one run.

Mahela Udawatte was then out for a first-ball duck, caught by Neil Broom off seamer Kyle Mills and shortly afterward Sanath Jayasuriya miscued a pull shot to be caught by Ross Taylor off Mills for seven.

Mahela Jayawardene combined with his captain Kumar Sangakkara for 67 runs off 43 balls to give Sri Lanka some hope, but offspinner Nathan McCullum then picked up two wickets in his first over - the 11th of the innings - to put the tourists in control.

Jayawardene made 41 runs off 30 balls before being caught at third-man by Jesse Ryder. Three balls later, Anjelo Mathews was caught at mid-on by Taylor to reduce the hosts to 80-5.

Sangakkara and Gihan Rupasinghe resisted with a 49-run partnership in 39 balls but could not keep pace with the soaring required run rate.

Earlier, New Zealand's openers justified skipper Vettori's decision to bat first, scoring 46 runs in the first five overs.

Brendon McCullum was particularly severe on the Sri Lankan bowlers, scoring 19 off the fourth over bowled by paceman Lasith Malinga.

McCullum was caught and bowled by left-arm spinner Sanath Jayasuriya, one run short of his sixth Twenty20 half-century.

Ryder was the next to fall, out for 52 when he was caught by Rupasinghe at extra-cover off spin bowler Ajantha Mendis. He faced 37 balls and struck three boundaries and three sixes.

Martin Guptill made 32 off of 20 balls before being bowled by Malinga with the last ball of the innings. Jacob Oram was 17 not out.

Jayasuriya was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers taking 2-22 off his four overs.

Source

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