Player of the Match
Player of the Match
1682dThe Bulletin by Andrew Miller

Sri Lanka survive jitters to reach World Cup final

Sri Lanka overcame a serious bout of the jitters to book their place in Saturday's World Cup final in Mumbai, as New Zealand bowed out in the last four for the sixth time in ten campaigns

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

TM Dilshan
TM Dilshan
73(93) 10x4 - 1x6
Control %76%
  • Productive Shot
  • pull/hook on back foot
  • 26 runs
  • 5x4 - 1x6
4 0 16 10 14 3 4 22
SB Styris
SB Styris
57(77) 5x4 - 0x6
Control %79%
  • Productive Shot
  • off side drive on front foot
  • 23 runs
  • 3x4 - 0x6
0 0 5 8 7 14 14 9

Best performances - Bowlers

BAW Mendis
O9.5
M0
R35
W3
Eco3.55
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
SL Malinga
SL Malinga
O9
M0
R55
W3
Eco6.11
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF

Scorer: Sanjay Murari | Commentator: Siddarth Ravindran

Murali's final game in Sri Lanka is over, and he is chaired around by some of his team-mates.

Mathews: "I think we have done a great job today. I never had any doubts because I thought we were going to win it, the pressure was on though. [On his injury] We've got to see how it goes, put some ice and rest it for a day and then take a call. "

Murali sports that famous grin of his as he takes a lap of honour around the ground, waving to the fans. Sri Lanka's biggest fan, Percy Abeyasekera, is walking behind him with a large Sri Lanka flag.

It ends at the semi-final stage for New Zealand once more, but there can hold their heads high after their show in this tournament. They have had a horror eight months before the World Cup, but as usual raised their game in the big tournament, upsetting a formidable South African unit before coming up short against Sri Lanka.

As for the big match tomorrow, there's some bad news from Mohali. There a heavy storm there right now, hope it clears before tomorrow afternoon.

Andrew Miller has got the match report up, take a look as we wait for the presentation to start.

Presentation ceremony
Daniel Vettori: "We set up a great start, but we lost too many wickets at the end, we scrapped hard today. The top order really set it up, we missed out by not capitalising on that, I think that's where we lost the game. We have been an outstanding fielding side all tournament, we fought hard but it wasn't enough today. Sri Lanka are going to be a tough side in the final, particularly with their bowling unit. I've enjoyed the tournament, the captaincy - I have enjoyed it some of the time, and not for some of the time." Vettori signs off as one-day captain.

Sangakkara: "The last game for Murali in Sri Lanka, we really wanted to give him a good send-off. Our bowling variety has been great, our fast bowlers are good, our spinners have been good. Murali is the icon of Sri Lanka, on the field, off the field, a fantastic human being and a great team man." The crowd goes absolutely wild as Sangakkara gives a message in Sinhalese to the partying fans. He says the team should realise they haven't won anything yet, we have just reached the final. Sangakkara is also the Man of the Match, receives the trophy from Lorgat.

That's it from us at ESPNcricinfo. On behalf of Nitin Sundar, Liam Brickhill, Sahil Dutta and the rest of the gang, this is Siddarth Ravindran signing off. In case you have been on the moon or on some other planet and don't know, it's India v Pakistan tomorrow. We promise to lay off the physics and lunar discussions. Seeya!

47.5
4
McKay to Samaraweera, FOUR, Sri Lanka book their tickets to Mumbai, their second final in a row, what an achievement this is. not the finest shot to seal the win, an outside edge between the keeper and a wide slip for four, they don't care, it's party-time in Sri Lanka, this is going to be the first all-Asian World Cup final, credit to New Zealand, they fought hard and made it tense for a while in the chase, but Sri Lanka were too good for them today
47.4
0
McKay to Samaraweera, no run, bowled from wide of the crease, angling in, Samaraweera looks to short-arm that behind square leg, Jayawardene is screaming off the blocks for a single before he realises Samaraweera is going nowhere and turns back
47.3
0
McKay to Samaraweera, no run, swishes at that one outside off without any footwork, looking to steer it to third man, he misses

The fireworks continue to light up the Colombo night sky, someone tell them the game's not over yet

47.2
1
McKay to Mathews, 1 run, shortish and on legstump, worked to square leg to bring Sri Lanka within one of New Zealand's score, the decibel level is high now in Colombo
47.1
1
McKay to Samaraweera, 1 run, length ball outside off, calmly steered towards third man for a single

McKay to bowl what could be the final over of this semi-final.

Drama at the Premadasa, Samaraweera blasts the ball through cover for four, he thinks its over, but the umpire had actually signalled a dead ball just before the bowler delivered as he was distracted by the many fireworks going off round the stadium, Jayawardene had his arms up in triumph before realising it isn't over yet

END OF OVER:
47 | 10 Runs | SL: 214/5 (4 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 4.55, RRR: 1.33)

  • Angelo Mathews13 (17b)
  • Thilan Samaraweera18 (34b)
  • Tim Southee10-2-57-3
  • Andy McKay9-1-31-1

Some confusion whether that second ball of the over was a wide or not, umpire Steve Davis didn't realise the over was up after the sixth delivery, he was reminded by the square-leg umpire, and Davis gives Southee his cap

46.6
0
Southee to Mathews, no run, another short ball from Southee, Mathews skips towards leg and mistimes a pull towards midwicket

Sri Lanka 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st40TM DilshanWU Tharanga
2nd120TM DilshanKC Sangakkara
3rd1DPMD JayawardeneKC Sangakkara
4th8TT SamaraweeraKC Sangakkara
5th16TT SamaraweeraLPC Silva
6th35TT SamaraweeraAD Mathews