Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews faulted their famed bowling unit of Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Herath and Sachithra Senanayake for the shocking result in the 2nd ODI of the Dialog Cup 2013.
Stunned by the unlikely defeat in the hands of a depleted New Zealand the host are under tremendous pressure to save the series going into the final ODI on Saturday.
New Zealand who were thrashed 3-0 in Bangladesh a week ago, lead the series 1-0 against Sri Lanka.
“We were badly let down by the bowlers. I think they took things for granted,” Mathews charged at the post match press conference in Hambantota.
“As batters, we did extremely well and 200 in 23 overs is always a dependable total. They (the bowlers) did extremely well in the first ten overs and not after that. This I think was the main reason for the defeat,” Mathews added.
The Kiwis were set a target of 198 to win in 23 overs after Sri Lanka posted 138 for one thanks, to Duckworth and Lewis calculation and came up with a stunning power-hitting in the final over to clinch a nail-biting thriller.
After collecting three runs in the first two balls of Herath, New Zealand needed 17 off the last four, a hurricane task with two new batsmen in the crease but Nethan McCullum delivered a stunner hitting six-four-six-six to finish things off in great fashion.
Sri Lanka had their chances after reducing them for 68 for 4 in the 11th over, but wicket-keeper Luke Ronchi and Tom Lotham put on 93 runs for the fifth wicket in 57 balls to bring them with touching distance of the target. But New Zealand lost both batsmen in the 21st over bowled by Kulasekara leaving a tall order to climb for the two incoming batsmen McCullum and James Neesham.
“When the partnership was threatening I had to use my strikers, Nuwan and Lasith to break the partnership and put us back in the game. It worked for us with Kulasekara picking both batsmen but we could not hold it together,” Mathews explained.
Mathews opted for Herath to bowl the final over.
“I went for the best bowler for the final over and would have chosen that anyway,” he said. Herath conceded 43 in three overs where 25 runs were stolen in the final over. Kulasekara was the biggest plus claiming four for 34 runs in his five over spell while Senanayake claimed 2 for 31.
Mathews said that he took a calculated risk by batting first despite knowing well that the Duckworth and Lewis formula would come into effect due to rain.
“We had a look at the pitch before the toss. It was helping the batters initially and expected to get bit of turn and slow. But bowlers could not turn nor grip the ball,” he said.
