Pitiful Sri Lankan batting leads to rout

Sri Lanka continued their disappointing run with the bat in the 2nd ODI held at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch today.

The visitors who had been given a sound thrashing by the Black Caps in the 1st ODI at the same venue, performed even worse with the bat than they did on Boxing day, going from 20/1 to be eventually all out for 117 on what was described as a “belter” of a pitch. New Zealand made short work of the chase with Martin Guptill smashing the ball to all parts on his way to the 2nd fastest ODI fifty of all time.

Winning the toss, Skipper Angelo Mathews once again opted to bat on the flat track in Christchurch, hoping perhaps that his top order would make use of the batsmen friendly conditions on offer. He was in for a rude shock however as the Sri Lankans went from being 20/1 to 56/5 and it was left to the lower order to once again salvage some pride. They could not repeat their boxing day performance however and Sri Lanka were all out with more than 20 overs to spare.

Sri Lanka’s openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Danushka Gunathilake made a better start to the innings than they did 2 days ago as they looked to go after the bowling. The Black Caps bowling was equal to the task however as Matt Henry once again provided the breakthrough for the hosts when he had Dilshan caught at slip in the 4th over. Lahiru Thirimanne’s miserable run continued when he guided a short, wide delivery into the waiting hands of Henry at deep third man off the bowling of Mitchell McClenaghan. Things never really got better for the visitors from then on as the runs too dried up. Gunathilake was the next to go when Mitchell Santner took an absolute ripper diving to his left at cover.

Neither Dinesh Chandimal nor Angelo Mathews were able to get in on the track which, apart from offering some extra bounce earlier on, was looking flatter by the minute. Chandimal was struck right in front by a Doug Bracewell inswinger in the 14th over, leaving Sri Lanka at 54/4; he seemed inclined to review the umpire’s decision but was dissuaded by Mathews at the other end. Sri Lankan hopes were perhaps lifted by the arrival of the next batsman; Milinda Siriwardene had proved himself a valuable asset during this tour. He started in customary form pulling McClenaghan over wide mid-on, looking to pull Sri Lanka out of the rut they were in by playing some shots.

Mathews’ nightmare against New Zealand’s left armers continued as he gloved McClenaghan to the keeper. Mathews’ tactic of moving across his stumps to play the short ball angled across him has failed so far but he continued to use it and was clearly uncomfortable by the line and length McClenaghan was maintaining. Siriwardene too failed to control the ball with the extra bounce McClenaghan was extracting off the pitch and cut the ball to point.

Sri Lanka’s staple comical runout came next when Nuwan Kulasekara played the ball to point and took off for the run, non-striker Chamara Kapugedara was hesitant at first and ball watching by both batsmen as well as some brilliant fielding from Guptill saw him stranded. It was a pity as he had looked good during his short stay at the crease. Sachithra Senanayake did not last long but both Dushmantha Chameera and Jeffry Vandersay displayed some fight as Kulasekara looked to take on the bowling. He was the last man dismissed as Sri Lanka’s woeful performance meant that New Zealand would have to bat before the Lunch break.

Dushmantha Chameera who was bafflingly left out of the attack for the 1st ten overs of the last game got the new cherry this time around and created an opportunity on the 1st ball of the innings. Chameera dug the ball in short from around the wicket, he had the field set for it and Guptill went for the pull. Rushed by pace he managed to get the ball to leg gully where it flew through the hands of Siriwardene and to the boundary.

With Brendon McCullum out with an injury, Guptill took on the attacking role smashing the ball to all parts. He was looking good to break AB De Villiers record for the fastest fifty when he took Chameera for 27 in the 3rd over, reaching 46 off 12 deliveries. He was denied however by Kulasekara’s pin point Yorkers and had to settle for a fifty off 17 deliveries, one behind De Villiers and equal with Sanath Jayasuriya’s and Kusal Janith Perera’s mark. He did however score the fastest fifty by a New Zealander. Jeffry Vandersay’s 1st over in ODI cricket went for 26 as Guptill continued to blast the ball out of the park.

Guptill also had a long shot of getting the fastest century in ODIs but Sri Lanka hadn’t set a big enough target and he fell 7 short of a whirlwind century. New Zealand wrapped up the game with 41.4 overs and all ten wickets in hand.

Mathews rightly described the batting performance as “embarrassing” and will have to put up a better show in the remaining 3 ODIs if they are to challenge the Kiwis in this series.