Kiwis scrape past spirited Lankans

Cardiff (PTI): New Zealand pulled off a nail-biting one-wicket victory in a low-scoring Group 'A' thriller against Sri Lanka, who very nearly defended a score of 138, in the ICC Champions Trophy here on Sunday. Chasing a paltry total, New Zealand made heavy weather of their run chase as Sri Lanka put up a tremendous fight on the back of a fiery spell by paceman Lasith Malinga. New Zealand were made to sweat for every run scored as they huffed and puffed their way to victory with 13.3 overs to spare at Sophia Gardens. The track was conducive for seam bowlers as both sides reaped benefits with the likes of Kyle Mills, Shaminda Eranga and Lasith Malinga extracting a lot of movement off the pitch. Malinga put on display an incisive spell of fast bowling to slice through the opposition batting line-up but could not decisively turn the tide in his team's favour. Malinga bowled his heart out to finish with an impressive figures of four for 34 from his 10 overs. Earlier, New Zealand bowlers stuck to a disciplined line to skittle out Sri Lanka for a paltry 138 inside 38 overs, their fifth-lowest total after choosing to bat first. Barring former skipper Kumar Sangakkara who stood tall amidst ruins, scoring 68 off 87 balls with eight boundaries, others simply didn't have any clue against controlled seam bowling by seasoned Kyle Mills (2/14) and young left-arm seamer Mitchell McClenaghan (4/43), who kept cutting partnerships short.

Scorecard Sri Lanka: Kusal Perera c B McCullum b Mills 0, Tillakaratne Dilshan b McClenaghan 20, Kumar Sangakkara c Williamson b N McCullum 68, Mahela Jayawardene lbw b Vettori 4, Dinesh Chandimal c Ronchi b Mills 0, Angelo Mathews b McClenaghan 9, Lahiru Thirimanne run out (Guptill/Williamson) 9, Thisara Perera c Vettori b McClenaghan 15, Rangana Herath not out 8, Shaminda Eranga c Mills b NL McCullum 0, Lasith Malinga c Taylor b McClenaghan 2; Extras: (LB-1, W-2) 3; Total: (all out; 37.5 overs) 138; Fall of wickets 1-0, 2-27, 3-33, 4-34, 5-65, 6-82, 7-118, 8-135, 9-135; Bowling: Kyle Mills 6-0-14-2, Mitchell McClenaghan 8.5-0-43-4, Daniel Vettori 6-1-16-1, Tim Southee 7-1-25-0, Nathan McCullum 8-0-23-2, Kane Williamson 2-0-16-0. New Zealand: M Guptill c Jayawardene b Eranga 25, L Ronchi c Sangakkara b Eranga 7, K Williamson lbw b Malinga 16, R Taylor lbw b Herath 0, J Franklin lbw b Dilshan 6, B McCullum b Malinga 18, D Vettori lbw b Malinga 5, N McCullum lbw b Malinga 32, T Southee not out 13, K Mills run out 3, M McClenaghan not out 1; Extras: (lb-8, w-5) 13; Total: (For 9 wickets in 36.3 overs) 139; Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-48, 3-49, 4-49, 5-70, 6-80, 7-115, 8-122, 9-134; Bowling: L Malinga 10-2-34-4, S Eranga 8-0-45-2, R Herath 10-0-36-1, T Dilshan 6.3-1-12-1, T Perera 2-0-4-0. Man of the Match: Nathan McCullum