New Zealand fulfilled the hopes of a capacity crowd, celebrating another landmark in the rebirth of their city, by defeating Sri Lanka by 98 runs. It was a well-nigh flawless performance unaffected by the unprecedented expectations of an adoring public.
Captain Brendon McCullum, a resident of the city, showed the way. Opening the batting after New Zealand had been inserted under heavy cloud cover, he cracked the first two deliveries he received to the boundary and continued to bat with the fluency of a man determined to enjoy himself, whatever the expectations. There were ten fours plus an effortless six before he was caught on the boundary’s edge off Rangana Herath. By then he had gleaned 65 from 49 balls and New Zealand had 111 on the board.
McCullum provided the spice at the start, Corey Anderson the muscular acceleration at the end. In between there were worthy contributions from Martin Guptill, the prolific Kane Williamson, who was unusually scratchy at the start of his innings, and Grant Elliott.
Anderson’s 75 came even faster than McCullum’s runs, but without the delicacy. One straight drive almost beheaded the bowler in his follow through. A couple of wickets later in the day ensured that Anderson was man of the match. 102 runs came from the final ten overs to give New Zealand a formidable total of 331-6.
The Sri Lankans, in temperature that had dipped suddenly, lacked spark or zeal in the field. Both at the start of the innings and at the end Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekera were as impotent as their numbers suggest. Moreover it was puzzling that Rangana Herath did not complete his ten overs, while the figures of Jeetan Mendis, 2-5 from his two overs (he was on a hat-trick in his second over) take some explaining.
There were possibilities for Sri Lanka - when they were 124-1 in their 22nd over. The pitch was true and Lahiru Thirimanne had been batting with some panache. But then the innings fell apart.
Trent Boult triggered the collapse. Firstly he removed Thirimanne’s off-stump with one of the rare deliveries that deviated off a pristine pitch. Then Boult had Kumar Sangakkara lbw to an in-swinging full toss. In between Daniel Vettori, relishing the prospect of this swansong dismissed Mahela Jayawardene, caught behind without scoring. Three wickets had fallen in the space of twelve deliveries and there was no way back for the Sri Lankans.
Vettori bowled with characteristic cunning and that rebellious old body moved swiftly enough for him to hold a fine running catch to dispose of Angelo Mathews. Meanwhile at the other end of his career Adam Milne, a spindly fast bowler, demonstrated why he is so highly rated with two wickets in an over.
It was a copybook victory for the Kiwis and one, which might cause some apprehension in the Scottish camp. On Tuesday they take on the New Zealanders down in Dunedin in their first match and they will encounter a side, which is bubbling with confidence but taking nothing for granted.
