COLOMBO: New Zealand bounced back from a shaky start to beat Sri Lanka by 61 runs in their Twenty20 World Cup Super Eight clash on Wednesday, knocking the co-hosts out of the tournament.
After slumping to 84-5, New Zealand were rescued by captain Mitchell Santner, who struck 47 off 26 balls to lift his side to 168-7 at the R Premadasa Stadium.
Sri Lanka never recovered from an early collapse in reply and finished on 107-8, suffering their second defeat of the Super Eight stage in the 20-team competition. Rachin Ravindra returned figures of 4-27, while Matt Henry claimed 2-3 to dismantle the hosts’ batting line-up.
“It’s embarrassing to disappoint the home crowd, they’ve been very supportive,” Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said. “We wanted to restrict them to 130 but, to be honest, they played really well so we must give them credit.”
Having lost their opening Super Eight match to England, Sri Lanka needed victory to stay alive but failed to capitalise after choosing to field first.
