Matt Henry, collecting his award, gives a genial interview, handing some of the credit to his time with Kent. “You don’t get too many one-day wickets like that,” he notes. Thank goodness. He also says, “It’s a long tournament.” Which is about the only crumb of comfort for Dimuth Karunaratne and his team. If you’re going to have a bad spell, you need to have it early on, then find some momentum. Whether Sri Lanka can manage that seems implausible at the moment, but stranger things have happened.
Thanks for your company and your emails – all five of them. Do switch over to our coverage of Australia-Afghanistan here, and I’ll see you for England-Pakistan at Trent Bridge on Monday.
Well, it was a fixture, but it wasn’t a match. New Zealand saw a green surface, went for line and length, and held their slip catches. Sri Lanka, the oldest team in the tournament, played like beginners, getting into a decent position at 46 for 1 and then throwing it all away to slump to 60 for 5, with Matt Henry, the player of the match, picking up 3 for 29. A fifty partnership kept the Sri Lankans in it for a while, but 136 wasn’t even a Twenty20 score and the NZ openers knocked the runs off with a single stratagem, going down the track to negate the movement. If the pitch was too green, so was the Sri Lankan batting. For the second day running, the World Cup has produced a horrible mismatch.
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New Zealand win! By ten wickets (137-0)
Munro pushes a single and that’s that. New Zealand have won, with 33 overs and five balls to spare.
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16th over: NZ 136-0 (Guptill 73, Munro 57) Karunaratne turns back to Malinga, perhaps taking the view that the ball will now reverse-swing and the Slinger will pick up five for none. Malinga doesn’t get the memo and dishes up another dud bouncer, so high that it’s a wide. Guptill, who is eyeing a giddy net run-rate, sees the next bouncer coming and slaps it for four to fine leg. And the next, which is also a no-ball. It’s a sad, sad situation, and it’s getting more and – oh, Malinga produces a fine yorker, which Guptill does well to lay a toe-end on. Another yorker, a clip for two, and the scores are level.
15th over: NZ 120-0 (Guptill 60, Munro 56) Another might-as-well move as Karunaratne sends for a spinner. It’s Jeevan Mendis with his leg breaks. After a few sighters, Guptill gives him the charge and sticks it in the river Taff. New ball, please. That’s drinks with – on balance, all things considered – NZ marginally in front.
14th over: NZ 109-0 (Guptill 51, Munro 55) Munro shovels Perera for a couple and joins his mate on fifty. He’s taken 41 balls, so much the same, without the dancing family. His celebration takes the form of a whack past mid-off for four. SL respond next ball with a review for caught behind, of the might-as-well variety. Not out. And hope, which is supposed to spring eternal, slips out of the ground.
13th over: NZ 101-0 (Guptill 50, Munro 48) Guptill brings up his fifty, and the hundred, by lofting Udana over long-on for six. It’s taken him only 39 balls, 24 of which he has scored off. In the stand, his wife and baby, both wearing Black Caps shirts, do a little jig.
12th over: NZ 91-0 (Guptill 41, Munro 47) Another edge, as Munro wafts at Perera, but he gets away with it again because Karunaratne is no Steve Waugh. Munro then rubs it in by shimmying down the track and slamming the ball back past Perera for four. Meanwhile, some better news from the other game: Afghanistan are recovering against Australia.
11th over: NZ 82-0 (Guptill 39, Munro 41) More spark from Udana, but he can’t prevent five singles. These two have been busy in between the big shots.
10th over: NZ 77-0 (Guptill 36, Munro 39) Another change as Thisara Perera comes on, looking for wickets to add to a spirited little knock. He almost gets Guptill, chipping over mid-off’s shoulder, and then he almost gets Munro, with a regulation nick through the now-vacant first slip. That’s the end of the powerplay, and surely the end of Sri Lanka’s faint hopes too.
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9th over: NZ 68-0 (Guptill 31, Munro 35) Karunaratne has finally noticed that this is not a Test match. He takes Malinga off and brings on Isuru Udana, who’s a sparky left-armer. He twice finds Guptill’s edge, only to see both nicks go for four. NZ are almost half-way already. Come on you gods, give the Sri Lankans a break.
8th over: NZ 55-0 (Guptill 22, Munro 31) The cruise continues as Munro flicks Lakmal off his pads for four – a bad ball, but very well put away. Kumar Sangakkara, who is commentating, noticed a few overs ago that Munro was trying too hard to find some form. “He needs to wait, the right ball will come along and he’ll play it nicely and feel better, and batting will get easier. That’s all it takes.” The ball in question was the limp bouncer from Lakmal (6th over) that he cut for four. Commentary so good, you could record it and use it as coaching.
7th over: NZ 50-0 (Guptill 19, Munro 29) Ten off Malinga’s over, 50 up, and poor old Sri Lanka are heading for a humiliation.
“Is there any good reason,” asks John Leavey, “why WC games are starting at 10.30 rather than 11.00? Takes us back to the (good/bad) old days of the Gillette Cup when ‘win the toss and bowl’ was the mantra. Less of an issue these days with the non-swinging white balls, but surely there is still a distinct advantage in bowling first. Seems strange to have moved the start from the norm. Are Indian TV viewers really that sensitive to what time they crack open the beers and snacks?” Another good question. The way things are going, teams are going to be playing five seamers, and they’ll only need three of them.
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6th over: NZ 40-0 (Guptill 16, Munro 22) Lakmal too drops short, and Munro says thanks very much with a lofted cut. Next ball, Lakmal goes full and Munro slogs him into the back row of the stand, where the bloke in the black T-shirt sticks out a hand and spills the chance. That’s NZ’s first six, and 14 off the over. Can Karunaratne, who was a rather passive observer of the carnage this morning, do something about it?
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5th over: NZ 26-0 (Guptill 16, Munro 9) Malinga is trying to bounce Guptill out, which is a surprising choice on a greentop. Guptill responds with two crisp safe pulls, one for a single, the other for four. Brendon McCullum spots that the batsmen are going down the track to stop the bowlers bowling the ball that did the damage earlier – the classic length ball aimed at the top of off.
4th over: NZ 19-0 (Guptill 11, Munro 7) Guptill gives Lakmal hope for a split second as he plays a loose upper cut, but it’s not that close to the man at gully. Karunaratne has three men in catching positions when Steve Waugh would have had six.
3rd over: NZ 16-0 (Guptill 10, Munro 6) Malinga the Slinger goes for some singles, but he’s not here to keep it tight. The pitch looks like one of those smoothies that are a little too healthy for comfort.
2nd over: NZ 13-0 (Guptill 9, Munro 4) The other opening bowler is Suranga Lakmal, who finds some swing and lift straight away. Munro shovels him round to long leg for two, and then takes a quick single. Come on you Lankans, get an early wicket.
1st over: NZ 10-0 (Guptill 9, Munro 1) The new ball is taken by Lasith Malinga, the last superstar standing in Sri Lankan cricket. He draws the edge second ball, but the slips are too deep to cash in – agonising stuff. Martin Guptill celebrates his escape with a whack over extra cover for four. To rub salt into the wound, he adds a hook for four.
And here’s John Starbuck. “The past few CWC matches don’t seem to have carried the option/link to the full scorecard somewhere in the heading. Is this deliberate or did someone just forget?” Good question, I will ask the top brass. “Also, I’ve often wondered if OBO writers keep, in these data-driven days, a scorecard of their own relating to emails received/printed?” John, there’s data, and there’s utter insanity.
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So, gameplans. NZ need to get off to a fast start, to make this modest target look ridiculous. SL need at least three wickets in the first powerplay, and ideally six.
Thanks Simon and afternoon everyone (well it is, just). What a dismal morning that was. At one end, the Sri Lankans took one look at a greentop and batted like amateurs, making 73 for 9 off 94 balls. At the other, their captain crawled to 52 not out off 84 balls, perhaps on the basis of “when in Britain, bat like Boycott and Brearley in 1979”.
Still, all is not lost: we have an email. “I’ve sussed it,” says Andrew Benton. “The Pakistan and Sri Lanka teams are free-to-air fans and are deliberately depriving advertisers of airtime! A truly principled stand. Hats off, gents.”
There was some excellent bowling and some superb fielding from New Zealand, but that was a wildly substandard batting performance from Sri Lanka. On the plus side, Karunaratne had joined a very select club:
Dimuth Karunaratne becomes only the second opening batsman - after Ridley Jacobs in 1999 - to carry bat in the World Cup. #CWC19
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) June 1, 2019
And with that I hand you over to Tim de Lisle, who will lead you through the Black Caps’ response. All emails to him here, please, or tweet him @TimdeLisle. Bye!
30.2 overs: Sri Lanka 136 all out Karunaratne survives the closest of shaves from the first ball of the over, hitting to deep square leg where Santner runs in to collect the ball diving forward. They go upstairs to check the catch and the soft signal is out, but replays show the ball hitting the turf as the catch is completed. It makes not the slightest sniff of a difference, as Malinga is cleaned out next ball!
WICKET! Lasith Malinga b Ferguson 1 (Sri Lanka 136 all out)
Malinga gives himself some room, Ferguson drives the ball straight through it, and that’s yer lot!
29th over: Sri Lanka 135-9 (Karunaratne 51, Malinga 1) Karunaratne completes his half-century, from 81 deliveries, with a smartly-scampered two.
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WICKET! Suranga Lakmal c Santner b Boult 7 (Sri Lanka 130-9)
Nine down! Boult bangs one in short, Lakmal goes for a wild pull but the line’s too good, Lakmal is cramped up and the ball is skied to cover!
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28th over: Sri Lanka 130-8 (Karunaratne 48, Lakmal 7) Ferguson bowls full, wide of off stump, and Karunaratne flicks it just wide of leg stump and away for four. Then Lakmal top-edges the ball up and behind him; it lands safe and what’s more it’s a no-ball. That gives Karunaratne a free hit; Ferguson goes shortish, and the batsman ducks under it, making the unusual decision not to even try to hit a free hit!
27th over: Sri Lanka 122-8 (Karunaratne 43, Lakmal 5) Lakmal defends Boult’s first delivery, and promptly swaps bats. With his new blade he heaves wildly at everything that comes his way, finally connecting with the penultimate ball of the over, which he heaves over cover.
26th over: Sri Lanka 117-8 (Karunaratne 43, Lakmal 0) Lockie Ferguson is back to frighten out the last couple of Sri Lankans. He very nearly claims Karunaratne, who can’t get his bat out of the way of a short ball but it flicks off the shoulder, loops up and Latham can only get his gloved fingertips to it.
25th over: Sri Lanka 115-8 (Karunaratne 42, Lakmal 0) Well Sri Lanka have made it halfway through their allocation of overs. So there’s that.
WICKET! Isuru Udana c Henry b Neesham 0 (Sri Lanka 114-8)
Udana chips the ball straight to mid on, who takes the easiest of catches!
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24th over: Sri Lanka 113-7 (Karunaratne 41, Udana 0) Again a Perera comes in, scores high-20s and then gets caught in the deep.
WICKET! Thisara Perera c Boult b Santner 27 (Sri Lanka 112-7)
Perera tries to repeat the shot that brought him six runs in the last over but his timing his off and the ball drops 20 yards inside the rope, where Boult is waiting!
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23rd over: Sri Lanka 111-6 (Karunaratne 40, T Perera 27) Neesham bowls a disastrous, wildly wide beamer no-ball, and Perera hoists the free hit over midwicket and into the very back of the stand!
22nd over: Sri Lanka 100-6 (Karunaratne 38, T Perera 19) A change of pace, with Mitchell Santner joining the fray, and he drops a sharp caught-and-bowled chance! Perera absolutely smashes it at him, but though Santner gets both hands to it he can’t get them catch-ready in time.
21st over: Sri Lanka 97-6 (Karunaratne 36, T Perera 18) Shot! That’s the best shot of Karunaratne’s innings and only his third boundary, whipped off his ankles and through midwicket for four.
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20th over: Sri Lanka 92-6 (Karunaratne 31, T Perera 18) Neesham is rewarded for his fielding exploits with a bit of bowling. Eight off it.
19th over: Sri Lanka 84-6 (Karunaratne 26, T Perera 15) Trent Boult is back, as New Zealand try to finish this innings while the going’s good, but with no instant reward. Also good is Neesham’s fielding, at backward point this time, diving and stretching and brilliantly stopping Karunaratne’s shot.
18th over: Sri Lanka 82-6 (Karunaratne 26, T Perera 14) Sky show Neesham being moved to gully after one ball of Ferguson’s last over; he caught Mendis there off the very next delivery. I always find it particularly cool when that happens, a bit like Babe Ruth’s called shot only better, because it’s someone else’s shot that has been called.
You have to ask questions about the defensive techniques of the Sri Lankan batsmen. Today, they've lost a wicket every six defensive strokes they have played - against an elite attack, that sort of defensive batting is not good enough to compete in a World Cup. #CWC19 https://t.co/ToYT7I50VF
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) June 1, 2019
17th over: Sri Lanka 80-6 (Karunaratne 25, T Perera 13) The first six of the day from Thisara Perera, who heaves De Grandhomme over square leg for a maximum. 12 off the over.
16th over: Sri Lanka 68-6 (Karunaratne 23, T Perera 3) There’s a wild, wide bouncer here from Ferguson, by a distance the worst ball of the innings. This is a very different collapse to Pakistan’s yesterday, appearing to be caused not by a particular tactic, remorselessly and effectively pursued, but just a good bowling line-up proving too good for some poor batters.
WICKET! Jeevan Mendis c Neesham b Ferguson 1 (Sri Lanka 60-6)
Another one! Mendis gets a thick edge to a ball coming across him and Neesham takes a good low catch at gully!
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15th over: Sri Lanka 60-5 (Karunaratne 19, Mathews 1) Matt Henry is finally stood down, and Colin de Grandhomme gets a wicket with his fourth ball. There’s almost another as well, Mendis skewing the final delivery over a desperate, grasping fielder at backward point.
WICKET! Mathews c Latham b De Grandhomme 0 (Sri Lanka 59-5)
A tiny whisper of an edge, a straightforward catch, Angelo Mathews goes for a nine-ball duck and Sri Lanka’s deep, dark hole keeps getting deeper. And also darker.
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14th over: Sri Lanka 58-4 (Karunaratne 18, Mathews 0) A tasty 91mph yorker from Ferguson is dug out by Mathews, who is yet to get off the mark after seven deliveries. He did crack the last ball of the over to midwicket for what looked like an inevitable four, but somehow Boult plucked the bouncing rocket out of the air while diving low to his right, a phenomenal piece of fielding.
13th over: Sri Lanka 57-4 (Karunaratne 17, Mathews 0) Henry just keeps on going. This partnership cannot fail now. And also, Karunaratne has to start scoring actual runs at some point. This has been a very 1980s ODI innings from the captain.
12th over: Sri Lanka 53-4 (Karunaratne 14, Mathews 0) So the first bowling change sees Lockie Ferguson enter the fray, and after his first few deliveries are clocked at just a shade under 90mph he speeds up a bit. The last three overs have brought three runs and a wicket.
WICKET! Dhananjaya de Silva lbw b Ferguson 4 (Sri Lanka 53-4)
Ferguson’s extra pace does for De Silva, who can’t get anything on the ball as it heads for the top of middle stump at 91mph!
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11th over: Sri Lanka 52-3 (Karunaratne 13, De Silva 4) We’ve had eleven overs without a bowling change, which seems unusual. Henry’s sixth over costs just the one run.
10th over: Sri Lanka 51-3 (Karunaratne 12, De Silva 4) Boult’s over starts with three dots, and ends with a couple more. Karunaratne has compiled a 27-ball 12 with two near-misses, and looks a bit like someone who’s only played one ODI in the last four years, which of course he is.
9th over: Sri Lanka 50-3 (Karunaratne 11, De Silva 4) De Silva comes out to face the hat-trick ball, which is full and just wide of off stump, and he drives it beautifully past mid-off for four!
Sri Lanka were doing well to only be one down before those two wickets from Matt Henry. They had been playing a false shot (an edge or a miss) with 29% of their shots. The average in ODIs is 16% - Sri Lanka were unsustainably loose. #CWC19
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) June 1, 2019
WICKET! Kusal Mendis c Guptill b Henry 0 (Sri Lanka 46-3)
That’s a lovely delivery, takes the edge and heads to second slip. It doesn’t get there, though, because Guptill, at third slip, dives to his left and gets there first! Two in two for Henry at the start of this over!
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WICKET! Kusal Perera c de Grandhomme b Henry 29 (Sri Lanka 46-2)
Perera’s excellent innings comes to a clumsy end, as he wildly mis-hits the ball into the stratosphere, giving the fielding side enough time to engage in an leisurely game of quoits before it comes back down. De Grandhomme does the honours at mid-on.
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8th over: Sri Lanka 45-1 (K Perera 29, Karunaratne 11) Karunaratne has another go at chopping on, the ball this time bouncing a foot or so wide of off stump. The batsmen have each faced 23 deliveries, with very different returns. Karunaratne has only ever played one ODI innings at more than a run a ball (and he only got 16*).
7th over: Sri Lanka 41-1 (K Perera 26, Karunaratne 10) Brilliant fielding from Boult at third man turns four runs to two. “Brendan’s got West Indies down to beat Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka to beat West Indies,” notes Romeo. “Maybe it’ll turn out to be a tie.”
6th over: Sri Lanka 35-1 (K Perera 21, Karunaratne 9) Crack! Perera slaps Boult’s first delivery, short and wide, past point for four. Thwack! The second is hoisted over cover for four more. Then Karunaratne nearly chops onto the stumps! In fact, he does chop on! Kind of! He tries to ease the ball down to third man but there’s not enough width, and as the ball whistles by off stump visibly wobbles, but those bails aren’t for budging!
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5th over: Sri Lanka 25-1 (K Perera 12, Karunaratne 9) Henry’s first ball is clobbered right back past him by Perera. “Isn’t it about time we stopped all this ‘pitch reading’ nonsense?” pleads Gary Naylor. “Whether a pitch is green, brown, white, purple has no bearing whatsoever on how it plays. Since it’s about the only aspect of cricket not dataed to death, it’s the bluffers’ last refuge.” Does the amount of moisture in the pitch, as indicated by the growth upon it, not make quite a bit of difference? I mean, I’ve never played cricket to a level high enough for anything about the pitch to make the slightest difference except for the number of molehills on it, but that does seem pretty clear...
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4th over: Sri Lanka 20-1 (K Perera 7, Karunaratne 9) Boult’s first ball thunders into Karunaratne’s pad, briefly exciting the bowler, but it was heading well down leg. His second is a snorter, forcing a defensive prod and then sliding away and just past the bat. The Sri Lanka captain does edge the next one, but it’s thick enough to go well wide of the slips and away for four, and one of those slips then peels off and heads to third man. Then good, aggressive running ekes a couple of bonus runs from the last couple of deliveries.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 12-1 (K Perera 6, Karunaratne 2) Henry delivers the ball right into the slot and Perera swings through it, hoisting the ball over cover for four.
2nd over: Sri Lanka 7-1 (K Perera 2, Karunaratne 1) Boult bowls to Karunaratne, with three slips in place, but doesn’t really threaten the edge. Still, the over starts with four dots.
“In the first Test between these two sides from 15-19 December, a veteran Sri Lankan (Angelo Matthews) scored 120* in one of the greatest Test matches of all time,” recalls an optimistic Abhijato Sensarma. “In the second ODI between the same sides on 5th January, another Sri Lankan veteran (Thisara Perera) scored 140 in one of the greatest ODI matches of all time. Today is a perfect day to complete the triad - these two teams are meeting again, in the third match of the biggest tournament of all time, with a third Sri Lankan captain at the helm. If we see a third classical performance from a veteran in a clash we’ll remember for the ages, it’s going to be beyond poetic!”
1st over: Sri Lanka 4-1 (K Perera 0, Karunaratne 0) The first ball of the day from Matt Henry is tucked to fine leg by Thirimanne for four, but the bowler’s revenge is not long in coming. Here’s a good view of today’s pitch:
Introducing your green mamba for today’s #CWC19 match between @BLACKCAPS and Sri Lanka. Toss moments away. pic.twitter.com/VI9AtFAajQ
— Andrew Alderson (@aldersonnotes) June 1, 2019
WICKET! Thirimanne lbw b Henry (Sri Lanka 4-1)
He is you know! The umpire must have heard two noises and decided the ball had flicked the bat on its way through, but the instant it became clear that was not the case, Thirimanne was in a whole heap of trouble. Three reds, and he’s gone!
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REVIEW! Is Thirimanne out second ball?
The umpire didn’t think so, but New Zealand are keen...
The first half-hour could be key, and might also be a bit fun. Trent Boult on a green surface at 10.30am on the first day in June could be a bit testy. Enough talk, though. It’s time to find out.
Today’s teams, then:
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Perera (wk), Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana, Jeevan Mendis, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga.
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (c), Tom Latham (wk), Ross Taylor, James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.
Team news: Tom Latham is fit for New Zealand, but Henry Nicholls and Tim Southee miss out due to injury.
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) June 1, 2019
For Sri Lanka, Lasith Malinga is back after not featuring in both warm-ups.#NZvSL LIVE 👇
https://t.co/MrREhVpUCG pic.twitter.com/I7PptuhX1L
The teams are out and enjoying their anthems. Just a few minutes away from action now.
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Weather update: the clouds that dulled the sky at the toss seem to be clearing and the weather is good. There is a 4% chance of rain today. We’ll take that.
Sri Lanka would also have bowled first. Dimuth Karunaratne says that “we don’t have much pressure” and hopes his side will thumb their collective nose at the naysayers.
New Zealand win the toss and will bowl
Kane Williamson spots “a surface with a green tinge” and wants to take advantage.
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Hello world!
WWWWLWWWLWWWLW
This is New Zealand’s record against Sri Lanka since the start of 2015*. It contains plenty of W’s and a scant handful of L’s, though it did help that every one of those games was played at home. Of the 50 largest ODI scores in the last four years seven came against Sri Lanka, and only three were by Sri Lanka (New Zealand have a nicely-balanced three entries in each column, and two of their three high scores came against Sri Lanka in their three-match series earlier this year, in which the Black Caps batted first and won on every occasion; they also snuck in a couple of Tests, in the first of which New Zealand notched their biggest ever winning margin, 423 runs).
New Zealand have played six times at Cardiff and won three of those games; this is Sri Lanka’s fourth visit and they currently have a 0% record there. In the 2013 Champions Trophy these teams met in Cardiff and the game was dramatic, close but won, in the end, by New Zealand, who bowled Sri Lanka out for 138 and only just reached their target, prevailing by one wicket.
So everything points to a New Zealand win, even if Tim Southee has a calf injury and probably won’t play. That’s certainly what Brendon McCullum has predicted (Sri Lanka fans, look away now):
* These teams played a lot in 2015. Between 11 January 2015 and 5 January 2016 there were 13 ODIs scheduled, two of which were lost to bad weather.
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