CWC 2019: NZ vs SL Review – Kiwis batter hapless Lankans to seal comfortable victory

A second successive day, a second successive occasion when a team from the subcontinent had no answers against pace, bounce and movement. This time, it was Sri Lanka’s turn to follow in the footsteps of Pakistan as they succumbed to a devastating 10 wicket defeat against a much superior New Zealand unit.

Only skipper Dimuth Karunaratne offered any semblance of resistance with a defiant half-century as Matt Henry’s opening burst left the Sri Lankan top order in tatters. They never managed to recover from the horrendous start, only managing to post a score of 136 on the board. From then onwards, it was all but a walk in the park for the Kiwis.

Henry proves his worth 

After the battering which he took in the warm-up game against West Indies, a lot of questions had been raised over Matt Henry’s place in the squad. He was given the new ball right at the very start and his spell was full of intent as he blew the Sri Lankan top-order away. After being hit for a boundary in the first delivery of the game by Thirimanne, he hit back brilliantly, getting him LBW in the very next ball. He hit the deck hard and extracted movement out of a Cardiff pitch which offered some assistance to continuously trouble the Sri Lankan batsmen. He also added the wickets of Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis to his kitty to leave the Lankan batting order reeling.

Karunaratne’s resistance in vain

The skipper seemed to be the only batsman in the Lankan batting order who had the technique and the patience to counter the New Zealand pacers. He showed exactly why he is so highly rated in the Test arena, playing each and every delivery on its merit. While the other Lankan batsmen appeared to be walking ducks, Karunaratne was the lone man standing, carrying his bat with a fighting knock of 52*. He will need to be at his very best in the remaining games if Sri Lanka aim to pose a threat to the opposition.

Munro and Guptill go all guns blazing

Any minuscule hopes which the Lankan bowlers had of mounting a comeback were quickly dashed away by the belligerent knocks of both the New Zealand openers – Martin Guptill and Colin Munro. Their intent was clear from the very first over, as Guptill tonked Malinga away for 10 runs. From then onwards, they never gave the Lankan bowlers a sniff, punishing each and every poor delivery. Guptill ended with a score of 73* while Munro scored 58* to hand the Kiwis a comfortable 10 wicket victory in only 16.1 overs which will undoubtedly be a big boost for their net-run-rate.