Lankans too hot for Kiwis

MUMBAI, India: Sri Lanka crushed New Zealand by 112 runs yesterday to finish their World Cup Group A campaign with a flourish.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara scored his first World Cup century to help Sri Lanka recover from the early loss of both openers and reach 265-9, then his bowlers proved far too strong for New Zealand.

Muttiah Muralitharan ignored a hamstring injury to take 4-25 as the tournament co-host dismissed New Zealand for 153 to record their first win over a Test-ranked team at the tournament.

"It was, all-in-all, a fantastic team performance,'' man-of-the-match Sangakkara said. "That kind of victory is very satisfying because everyone's played a part.

"When a (second innings) finishes in 35 overs, it seems pretty easy. The New Zealanders got off to a pretty good start and ... a couple more partnerships would have made things very difficult for us. We're happy we got through those tough situations.''

disappointing results

Sri Lanka will finish second in Group A behind the winner of Saturday's match between defending champions Australia and Pakistan.

New Zealand, who also lost to Australia earlier in the group stage, can finish no better than third.

"We're disappointed with the result, but I thought Sri Lanka played very well,'' New Zealand captain Ross Taylor said. "Sangakkara and (Mahela) Jayawardene led the way with the bat and didn't give us a lot.

"We just kept losing wickets at crucial times.''

Playing at his final World Cup, Muralitharan strained his hamstring as he dived to avoid being run out during Sri Lanka's innings and left the field twice for treatment early in the New Zealand chase.

"I wanted to stay all 50 overs - I said I can still bowl to the captain,'' Muralitharan said. "The first over was tough, because the pain was there. For the second over, I didn't think about the leg, just bowling.''

With the Group B final standings still far from clear, both sides will have to wait to find out their quarter-final opponents. Regard-less of the opposition, Sri Lanka should head into the knockout stage with plenty of confidence after a convincing win - particularly as it came in the co-host's first game away from home.

New Zealand rued a contentious decision midway through Sri Lanka's innings when Nathan McCullum appeared to take a wonderful diving catch to dismiss Mahela Jayawardene on 26 - only for third umpire Amiesh Saheba to decide that replays did not prove conclusively that the finger-tip catch was taken cleanly.

Stand-in captain Taylor had to step in to prevent an aggrieved McCullum talking himself into trouble with the umpire at the end of the over.

Jayawardene went on to make 66 in a 145-run partnership with Sangakkara after they came together in the fifth over with the score at 19-2.

New Zealand had made a bright start to the match, with Tim Southee and Jacob Oram causing havoc with the new ball, but it was set back first by the Jayawardene incident and then by an injury to Hamish Bennett.

stunning catch

Sri Lanka had reached 87-2 when Jayawardene looked certain to go. Nathan McCullum took a stunning return catch off his own bowling, diving full length to his right to get his fingers to the ball just before it hit the ground.

The on-field umpires weren't sure the ball hadn't grounded and sent the decision to review, and McCullum was clearly furious when Saheba's decision was relayed, despite one replay showing the bowler appearing to take the catch cleanly.

Bennett joined fellow bowlers Kyle Mills and Daniel Vettori on the injury list when he turned his ankle while bowling in the 31st over.

Jayawardene and Sangakkara made the most of the reprieve as both reached their half-centuries, with the captain joining a list of 13 other players to score 9,000 ODI runs.

Jayawardene fell to Southee before Sangakkara's 11th one-day century - and first since 2008 - arrived in the 40th over. The captain's departure two overs later sparked a late flurry of wickets.