Home Cricket National Cricket Dropped catches, poor batting sees Sri Lanka face crushing defeat

Dropped catches, poor batting sees Sri Lanka face crushing defeat

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 – Reporting from Sydney, Australia

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A fielding effort littered with mistakes, along with a poor effort with the bat saw Sri Lanka crash to a 65-run loss at the hands of New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Things couldn’t have started better for Sri Lanka, as they lost the toss but were put into field, Dasun Shanaka indicating that he was looking to chase had he won the toss anyway. Things got better when they actually got into the field, with Maheesh Theekshana picking up Finn Allen in the 1st over.

The first 4 overs produced 3 wickets for just 15 runs and the match looked to be moving in Sri Lanka’s favour. But after keeping the Kiwis to 25/3 in the powerplay, things just went downhill for Sri Lanka.

The turning point of the game came in the 7th over, when Pathum Nissanka put down Glen Phillips at long off. Wanindu Hasaranga, coming off a poor outing against Australia, got Phillips to hit in the air, but Nissanka, one of Sri Lanka’s better fielders, could not hold on to the regulation chance. Phillips was given another life, this time by a diving Dasun Shanaka at long off, off Chamika Karunaratne’s bowling. Phillips was on 12 and 46 when he was dropped.

The 14th over, which saw the 2nd dropped catch, ended up going for 18, opening the floodgates as the Kiwis, mostly Phillips slammed 91 off the last 7.

The batting effort just never got going, Sri Lanka slumping to 4/8 to 5/24 to 102 all-out. The batters seemed to be unable to cope with the skill of the Kiwi bowling attack, who just did not let up at any stage.

There was a brief glimmer of hope when Bhanuka Rajapaksa was at the crease. The left-hander taking a particular liking to the pace of Lockie Ferguson as he raced to 34 off 22, but the quick had the last laugh, dismissing him and ending Sri Lanka’s hopes of a win tonight.

This game was critical to Sri Lanka’s chances, with the Ireland vs Afghanistan and England vs Australia games being washed out, and a loss means that their fate may no longer be in their hands as they need to win both their remaining games and hope that England, Australia and Ireland lose at least one of their remaining fixtures to go through to the semis.

New Zealand, on the other hand, are sitting pretty at the top of the table, with 2 wins and 1 no result.

>>ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022<<

Result


New Zealand
167/7 (20)

Sri Lanka
102/10 (19.2)

Batsmen R B 4s 6s SR
Finn Allen b Maheesh Theekshana 1 3 0 0 33.33
Devon Conway b Dhananjaya de Silva 1 4 0 0 25.00
Kane Williamson c Kusal Mendis b Kasun Rajitha 8 13 1 0 61.54
Glenn Phillips c Dasun Shanaka b Lahiru Kumara 104 64 10 4 162.50
Daryl Mitchell b Wanidu Hasaranga 22 24 0 0 91.67
James Neesham c Dasun Shanaka b Kasun Rajitha 5 8 0 0 62.50
Mitchell Santner not out 11 5 0 1 220.00
Ish Sodhi run out (Ashen Bandara) 1 1 0 0 100.00
Tim Southee not out 4 1 1 0 400.00


Extras 10 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 3, w 5, pen 0)
Total 167/7 (20 Overs, RR: 8.35)
Bowling O M R W Econ
Maheesh Theekshana 4 0 35 1 8.75
Kasun Rajitha 4 0 23 2 5.75
Dhananjaya de Silva 2 0 14 1 7.00
Wanidu Hasaranga 4 0 22 1 5.50
Lahiru Kumara 3 0 37 1 12.33
Chamika Karunaratne 3 0 34 0 11.33


Batsmen R B 4s 6s SR
Pathum Nissanka lbw b Tim Southee 0 5 0 0 0.00
Kusal Mendis c Devon Conway b Trent Boult 4 3 1 0 133.33
Dhananjaya de Silva b Trent Boult 0 3 0 0 0.00
Charith Asalanka c Finn Allen b Trent Boult 4 8 0 0 50.00
Bhanuka Rajapaksa c Kane Williamson b Lockie Ferguson 34 22 3 2 154.55
Chamika Karunaratne c Trent Boult b Mitchell Santner 3 8 0 0 37.50
Dasun Shanaka c Mitchell Santner b Trent Boult 35 32 4 1 109.38
Wanidu Hasaranga c Kane Williamson b Ish Sodhi 4 6 1 0 66.67
Maheesh Theekshana c James Neesham b Mitchell Santner 0 3 0 0 0.00
Kasun Rajitha not out 8 21 0 0 38.10
Lahiru Kumara st Devon Conway b Ish Sodhi 4 5 1 0 80.00


Extras 6 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 0, w 6, pen 0)
Total 102/10 (19.2 Overs, RR: 5.28)
Bowling O M R W Econ
Tim Southee 4 1 12 1 3.00
Trent Boult 4 0 13 4 3.25
Lockie Ferguson 4 0 35 1 8.75
Mitchell Santner 4 0 21 2 5.25
Ish Sodhi 3.2 0 21 2 6.56