Player of the Match
Player of the Match

10.35 pm So Sri Lanka have punched their ticket into the semi-final on the back of a dramatic collapse against spin by New Zealand. And because of this result it will be India facing South Africa in the second semi-final on Apirl 4. Thank you for your company today and this is Alagappan Muthu, hoping to see you all soon

"This pitch has been slow consistently," Lasith Malinga says, "I trusted my spinners. Herath was unbelievable. We were waiting for an occasion like this and we pulled through. Really lucky to have Angelo, Mahela and Dilshan to help me. they have good experience. Rangana was waiting for his chance and he proved himself really well. We have some other good spinners in Ajantha and Seekuge. We have a good opportunity with the turning wickets in Dhaka"

"We knew there was a lot of hard work to go,"Brendon McCullum says, "Knew we needed to be positive in the first six. It was a bit dry than we expected and Herath and Sachi, the way they bowled was outstanding. They blew us away with about eight wickets for some 10 runs. Wouldn't say there was extra pressure, it was a quarter-final anway. We just didn't adapt ourselves and played some mindless cricket. We took some poor option and as a result of that we're on the plane home"

Herath is the Man of the Match, duh. "What I realised was we needed wickets and I put the ball in the right place," he says. "Luckily the dew wasn't there but we had a bad game against England. Nothing was wrong today, no dew. Malinga was asking to what we can do, nothing more"

satya: "I will credit the 2 run outs to Herath as well......as it happened by brain fade caused by Herath" 10.25 pm Take a few minutes (or bang your head over it for hours) and read this. Herath 3.3-2-3-5! That too in a knockout scenario, after his batsmen had offered him a meagre target of 120. If there was any attack that could have defended it, it was Sri Lanka's and they've made yet another semi-final in a world tournament. Spare a thought for Kane Williamson though, he scored 42 of the 60 runs made by New Zealand...

15.3
W
Herath to Boult, OUT, that's five for Herath! Sri Lanka go through to the semi-final! Saw the batsman racing down the track and shortened his length. Gets some turn off the deck as well, which he tries to ride. But there is a slip in place and Mahela pouches it safely.

TA Boult c Jayawardene b Herath 3 (10m 8b 0x4 0x6) SR: 37.50

15.2
0
Herath to Boult, no run, flighted just outside off, pushed down towards mid-on but Herath races after it himself

McClenaghan is the final NZ batsman for today

15.1
W
Herath to Boult, 1 run, OUT, skips down the track and gets a leading edge which clears the cover infield. Absolute confusion out there and Williamson has been run-out at the bowlers'.

KS Williamson run out 42 (69m 43b 6x4 0x6) SR: 97.67

Here he is again, Herath takes aim at the NZ tail

END OF OVER:
15 | 8 Runs | NZ: 59/7 (61 runs required from 30 balls, RR: 3.93, RRR: 12.20)

  • Trent Boult2 (5b)
  • Kane Williamson42 (43b)
  • Lasith Malinga2-0-13-0
  • Sachithra Senanayake3-0-3-2
14.6
1
Malinga to Boult, 1 run, there's the slow, dipping yorker from Malinga and Boult does very well to prevent it from clattering into his stumps

Atit: "2 Spinners: 6-2-5-6....any better combination in any form of cricket?"

14.5
1
Malinga to Williamson, 1 run, 139kph, fires a yorker in on middle this time and Williamson is almost pushed off his feet. Still manages to nudge to deep square leg

No chance of Anderson batting

14.4
4
Malinga to Williamson, FOUR, yorker goes wrong, when was the last time you saw that from Malinga. This is way down leg and Williamson glances it away to the fine-leg boundary
14.3
1
Malinga to Boult, 1 run, goes for the short one on leg stump, Boult is not comfortable behind it but he's managed a leg bye behind square on the leg side

Widish slip in place

14.2
1
Malinga to Williamson, 1 run, another slower ball, Williamson chips it down to long-on and takes the single
14.1
0
Malinga to Williamson, no run, slower yorker on off stump, kept out quite nicely

Malinga's back, chats with Mahela en route to his bowling mark

EG: "NZ 51/7 and Williamson is 36*. This sums up the whole innings!!!" Still needs a mention of Herath.

END OF OVER:
14 | 1 Run 1 Wkt | NZ: 51/7 (69 runs required from 36 balls, RR: 3.64, RRR: 11.50)

  • Trent Boult0 (3b)
  • Kane Williamson36 (39b)
  • Sachithra Senanayake3-0-3-2
  • Angelo Mathews4-0-26-0
13.6
0
Senanayake to Boult, no run, this turns away again and Boult can't really pick it. Wafts a little bat outside off and misses

Mahela calls for a second slip. Almost looks like he's captaining out there

13.5
0
Senanayake to Boult, no run,
13.4
0
Senanayake to Boult, no run, flighted on off stump and he keeps it out

Boult is the new batsman, seems Anderson will not be batting

13.3
W
Senanayake to Mills, OUT, goes for the reverse sweep. Nothing more than an escape shot, struck on the knee-roll and this seemed to be sneaking down leg, but the umpire doesn't think so. Concerted appeal from Sri Lanka and they've gotten away with one. This was sliding down leg, HawkEye says

KD Mills lbw b Senanayake 4 (14m 9b 1x4 0x6) SR: 44.44

13.2
1
Senanayake to Williamson, 1 run, waits on it and pushes down the ground, past the non-striker
13.1
0
Senanayake to Williamson, no run, wanted to chop this away behind point, but it skids on from the pitch a little too quickly

Change of bat for Williamson

END OF OVER:
13 | 11 Runs | NZ: 50/6 (70 runs required from 42 balls, RR: 3.84, RRR: 10.00)

  • Kyle Mills4 (8b)
  • Kane Williamson35 (37b)
  • Angelo Mathews4-0-26-0
  • Sachithra Senanayake2-0-2-1
12.6
0
Mathews to Mills, no run, dug in quite short and he goes for a pull. Too high for him to connect
12.5
4
Mathews to Mills, FOUR, this has room on offer and he's belted that through the covers. Top shot as he had to take the slower ball on the up
12.4
1
Mathews to Williamson, 1 run, backs away as this was fired a lot fuller on middle. Got his bat between the ball and his stumps and the bottom edge saves him.
12.3
0
Mathews to Williamson, no run, back of a length just outside off, punched to mid-off

Sanga comes up to the stumps

12.2
4
Mathews to Williamson, FOUR, poor ball from Mathews, can't bowl short at his pace and Williamson punishes him with a solid pull shot. Beats square leg comfortably

Lion's share

70%

Percentage of runs Kane Williamson scored for NZ today - 42 out of 60

Power failure

23-4

This is New Zealand's third worst Powerplay score in T20 internationals

Captain stat

2

Only the second time both captains have been dismissed for a duck in a T20 international

Evenly matched

5-5

New Zealand and Sri Lanka's T20 head-to-head in matches decided inside regular play

Waning touch

112

Tillakaratne Dilshan's strike T20 rate since the start of 2013

ICC Men's T20 World Cup

First Round Group A
TeamMWLPTNRR
BAN32141.466
NEP32140.933
AFG3122-0.981
HKG3122-1.455
First Round Group B
TeamMWLPTNRR
NED32141.109
ZIM32140.957
IRE3214-0.701
UAE3030-1.541
Group 1
TeamMWLPTNRR
SL43162.233
SA43160.075
NZ4224-0.678
ENG4132-0.776
NED4132-0.866
Group 2
TeamMWLPTNRR
IND44081.28
WI43161.971
PAK4224-0.384
AUS4132-0.857
BAN4040-2.072