Seamers set up comprehensive win for Sri Lanka - Ajantha took 2/19

New Zealand v Sri Lanka, 2nd Twenty20, Florida

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga

May 23, 2010

Sri Lanka 86 for 3 (Dilshan 33*, Perera 25) beat New Zealand 81 (N McCullum 36*, Vettori 27, Kulasekara 3-4, Malinga 3-12) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Nuwan Kulasekara found the perfect lines and lengths for the slow and low track that the USA has dished out, and ripped the heart out of New Zealand's batting with three wickets in his first over. Although Daniel Vettori and Nathan McCullum, the only New Zealanders to reach double figures, avoided the ignominy of the lowest total in Twenty20 internationals, 81 was never going to test Sri Lanka even on this pitch.

The win was set up by Kulasekara's first two overs, three wickets in the first and no runs in the second. He made the necessary adjustments from the first match: everything was stump to stump, slightly short of a length, and offcutters were bowled aplenty. That the innings started with Kumar Sangakkara standing up to the stumps, with no slip in sight, said a lot about the pitch. It didn't help New Zealand that their top-order batsmen were looking to play around their front pad, and the bowlers were hardly missing. There was no bounce in the pitch to take anything over the stumps either.

Aaron Redmond and Rob Nicol both fell to ones that Kulasekara got to jag in sharply. Brendon McCullum got a beauty in between those dismissals, this one holding its line. Ross Taylor, in the next over, played across the line to Angelo Mathews and paid the price. Gareth Hopkins, in to replace the injured Martin Guptill, went for an ill-advised single, and many dubious records were in sight.

Crisis man Vettori, though, found support from the older McCullum, and the two batted sensibly to add 45 for the sixth wicket. Neither of them looked to play across the line, both waited for the loose deliveries, which were rare. One of them was a full delivery from Mathews in the seventh over, which N McCullum punched down the ground for the first boundary of the innings. Vettori hit two more boundaries, both cleverly played reverse-sweeps against Sanath Jayasuriya.

The partnership came to an end when Vettori swept at Ajantha Mendis, and the fielding side and the umpire took the noise emanating for an edge. Vettori, though, demonstrated the exact spot on the pitch his bat had hit, which created the incriminating sound.

When N McCullum square-cut Thissara Perera through the fingers of Tillakaratne Dilshan in the 16th over, the only other boundary of the piece, the score moved to 76, two more than the lowest total by a major team. Even though N McCullum kept New Zealand fighting, the lower order found full and straight bowling from Lasith Malinga too much, securing New Zealand's total in the format.

In the chase, Sri Lanka were hardly under any pressure, especially after Mahela Jayawardene got them going with a 12-ball 17. During his stay in the middle, batting looked at its easiest on this pitch not conducive to attractive cricket. Thissara Perera was sent in at the first drop, and he did his job by hitting two fours and a six in his 25 even as Tillakaratne Dilshan struggled for timing. Those two cameos were enough, though, to set the chase up, and Dilshan saw them through.

Sidharth Monga is a staff writer at Cricinfo

New Zealand prevail on slow and low pitch - Ajantha took 2/18

New Zealand v Sri Lanka, 1st Twenty20, Florida

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera

May 22, 2010

New Zealand 120 for 7 (Taylor 27, Vettori 21*) beat Sri Lanka 92 (Styris 3-10) by 28 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Ross Taylor adapted well in tough conditions © Getty Images

Cricket's American adventure got off to an unattractive start in Florida. The slow and low pitch didn't make for an exciting match, and New Zealand grafted hard to reach 120 for 7. It proved more than enough as Sri Lanka struggled and folded for 92.

The pitch was the villain of the piece. It certainly wasn't a batting surface, and it wasn't bowler-friendly either. It was a dull and lifeless track which sucked the pace and bounce from the deliveries and made shot-making almost impossible. The ball stopped on the batmen, kept low, and was immensely hard to time. And it certainly wasn't the perfect advertisement for cricket in a foreign land.

Only two Sri Lankan batsmen managed to adapt to the conditions, but neither hung around long enough to make a difference in the chase. Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews batted with a rare fluency, but both fell as New Zealand slow bowlers, led by that king of slow strangulating offcutters, Scott Styris, called the shots. Mathews collected a four and a six with hits over midwicket to loot 16 runs from the ninth over, bowled by Nathan McCullum, to reduce the equation to 74 from 11 overs. However, things went pear-shaped for Sri Lanka from then on.

Sangakkara fell, pulling a long hop from Daniel Vettori to deep square leg, and Mathews swung an offcutter from Styris to long-on. And when Chamara Kapugedera dragged the next ball - a short and slow offcutter - to deep midwicket, Sri Lanka needed 59 from 44 balls. It was a task beyond the reach and skill level of the lower order.

New Zealand too had struggled, but Ross Taylor showed self restraint and Daniel Vettori adapted well to push them to a decent total. It didn't make for a great viewing experience, but it brought some runs.

Taylor chose to concentrate on timing the ball as best as he could; he didn't play his typical expansive on-side swipes and worked the angles for singles. Vettori, too, did his best with his sweeps and swats and ensured New Zealand used up the full 20 overs after Taylor was run out.

With the score on 75 for 4 in the 14th over, Taylor turned for a second run after pushing wide of third man, but Nuwan Kulasekara fired in a sharp throw to Sangakkara and caught him short. It was a crippling blow, but Vettori had the skill and the patience to push New Zealand over 100.

Sriram Veera is a staff writer at Cricinfo

Sublime Jayawardene routs West Indies - Ajantha took 3/24

The Bulletin by Liam Brickhill

May 7, 2010

20 overs Sri Lanka 195 for 3 (Jayawardene 98*, Sangakkara 68) beat West Indies 138 for 8 by 57 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Hawkeye

Mahela Jayawardene scored freely all round the wicket to reach 98 against West Indies © Getty Images

Sri Lanka wrapped up a crushing 57-run win over a disappointingly lacklustre West Indies in Barbados after Mahela Jayawardene's sublime unbeaten 98 from 56 balls took them to 195 for 3. Jayawardene took full toll of a shambolic West Indian fielding performance in a 166-run partnership for the second wicket with Kumar Sangakkara - the highest of the tournament so far - and when Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle fell early in West Indies' chase, the fight went from their batsmen.

The inept West Indian batting was merely a continuance of their fielding effort, as the rot set in when five straightforward chances went down to allow Sri Lanka to take their score into the stratosphere. Jayawardene, whose superb form carried his side into the Super Eights, displayed silky touch and superb manipulation of the bowling in his innings, and Sangakkara, while not quite in Jayawardene's league at the moment, matched him almost shot for shot.

Jerome Taylor, on his return to international cricket after a six-month lay-off, should have had Sanath Jayasuriya, opening in place of the wretchedly out-of-form Tillekaratne Dilshan, caught by Kieron Pollard at backward point from his second ball. It was a regulation chance for a fielder in that position, but Pollard couldn't hold on to it, and the lapse set the tone for West Indies' performance in the field for the rest of the afternoon.

After Kemar Roach got rid of Jayasuriya, Taylor suffered another lapse from his fielders in his second over, as the normally-reliable Gayle put Sangakkara down at slip before he had scored. Jayawardene lifted the very next ball handsomely over wide long on for six. With that, the moment had passed and the rest of the match was entirely Sri Lanka's.

Both Sangakkara and Jayawardene flashed airily at the odd delivery, but were level-headed enough to keep their composure and capitalise on the bad balls that came, predictably, at least once an over. As the partnership gained momentum, West Indies seemed almost resigned to the fact that a large total was in the offing, and a missed caught-and-bowled chance from Pollard's first ball of the match barely registered.

As West Indies' fielding became ever more ragged, a fourth chance was missed as Benn found bounce and turn to elicit a rare mistake from Jayawardene, who was tempted out of his crease by a flighted delivery. But Fletcher fumbled the take, allowing Jayawardene to scramble back. Three balls later, things became even more farcical as Jayawardene top-edged Benn almost straight up in the air, and Fletcher and Wavell Hinds, the two closest fielders, both stood back and watched the ball plummet down, each expecting the other to go for it.

It looked as though Jayawardene would be able to reach his second hundred of the tournament when he took 10 runs from Bravo's final two balls to reach 97 with six balls still to be bowled. He was stranded at the wrong end in the final over, unable to reach the landmark, but through him Sri Lanka were able to post a massive total.

Chanderpaul began with a paddled six over deep backward square and a cracking off drive in Angelo Matthews' first over, but was out next ball, top-edging an ugly swipe to be caught at short third man. Gayle followed him two balls later, undone by a touch of extra bounce and nip off the seam by the impressive Nuwan Kulasekara, and West Indies were 23 for 2. His wicket stunned the large crowd into silence, and a similarly shell-shocked Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo trundled along at under a run a ball for the first 30 runs of their partnership.

Their stand eventually crept past fifty, but soon after Bravo flapped Lasith Malinga straight to Matthews at cover with 120 needed off just 56 balls. With the hitting power of Pollard to come, it was still just possible that West Indies could get close, but inexplicably Andre Fletcher was sent in ahead of him, and struggled to get the ball off the square.

When Sarwan departed, chipping a tame return catch back to Mendis, Pollard finally arrived, but the Sri Lankan spin attack, together with Malinga's pinpoint yorkers, strangled every attempt to reach the boundary. The required run-rate rocketed up beyond 20, and even before Pollard skied Mendis to wide long on, the result was a foregone conclusion.

Liam Brickhill is an assistant editor of Cricinfo