We must be grateful for small mercies. Here finally was a match not involving those ubiquitous minnows!
But there must be something in the Caribbean air. It makes even good teams like New Zealand play like minnows.
219 for 7 didn't look good enough. In fact, take away Scott Styris's 111 and New Zealand barely crossed 100.
Rediff.com's expert must have been thinking of Shane Bond and Daniel Vettori when he reckoned that Kiwis are just about 20 runs short. Sri Lanka's pressure index (PI) opened at 78.
Two overs later, at 19 for 0, and with New Zealand bowlers spraying the ball around, the PI had already dropped to 66.
Upul Tharanga's dismissal at 30/1 sent the PI up to 76 (he isn't playing too well, but Sanath Jayasuriya makes up for him).
Jayasuriya was unusually circumspect himself till he spotted Mark Gillespie; he hit him all over the park as SL amassed 18 off his first over and the PI dropped to 53.
Sri Lanka's victory seemed certain from that point onwards. Sensing that a big loss would hurt New Zealand's net run rate, skipper Stephen Fleming spread out his fielders and delayed his last Power Play.
Fleming's a smart captain; he just needs to learn how to face Chaminda Vaas.
Sunil T and Sunil Patil of Cranes Software created this pressure map based on the details retrieved from the Rediff scorer.
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