Kiwis thump Sri Lanka

In a huge match of ICC Champion Trophy 2009, New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by 38 runs. This could be possibly the end of road for Sri Lanka as they lost second game in a row.

Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangkkara won the toss and elected to field. He didn't though that New Zealand would make such a start. Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum destroyed the Sri Lankan bowling and made 125 for the first wicket. Ryder, in particular, was more sever on the bowlers. Also, he was the first to go. McCullum soon departed, when he was dismissed for 46. Ryder made a brutal 74 off just 58 balls. He sent 11 balls to the boundary, 10 fours and 1 huge six. New Zealand then seemed to lost their way, as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Captain Daniel Vettori, though stood tall and contributed 48 from the bat. His 48 came off just 44 balls, with 4 fours and a six. James Franklin and Kylie Mills ended the Kiwi innings in style, as Mills scored 18 off just 6 balls with 2 fours and 1 six. Both of them ensured that New Zealand get passed 300. New Zealand finished on 315. For Sri Lanka, Jayasuriya took 3 and Angelo Matthews took 2 wickets.

In reply, Lanka started in similar fashion with Jayasuriya and Dilshan scoring 66 off just 8 overs. But then, just like Kiwis, they also began losing their wickets at regular intervals. Though, there were 2 half centuries, one came from ex captain Mahela Jayawardene and second from young Angelo Matthews. Jayawardene scored 77 off 85 balls and along with Matthews, he took Sri Lanka very close to victory. But then, there were some disciplined Kiwi bowling at the end and all the bowlers contributed well. For New Zealand, Mills took 3 wickets, whereas Tuffey, Franklin and Vettori took 2 wickets each.

Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori was declared Man of the Match for his allround performance.

Meanwhile, Jesse Ryder has been ruled out from remaining matches of New Zealand in the tournament due to pulling out of left abductor muscle. He become the second Kiwi player to get knocked out of the tournament after Jacob Oram.