The ICC World Cup cricket is now down to the semi-finals stage and co-hosts Sri Lanka, having despatched England so easily, take on New Zealand in Colombo and world-famous spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is fit and ready to take part for the hosts.
New Zealand win the toss and will bat first. Sri Lanka name an unchanged side from the one that so soundly thrashed England in the quarter-final. New Zealand get off to a steady start here and after the first six overs there is little to suggest favourites Sri Lanka will walk this like they did in the quarters. Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum are the opening pair here and they are steady as a rock at the moment. New Zealand 32 for 0 after 7 overs Then McCullum is clean bowled for 13 by Herath but the New Zealanders reach the drinks break (on the 18th over) without further loss of wicket and creep rather quietly to 68 for one. The introduction of the mercurial Muralitharan inspires Sri Lanka to see off Ryder for 19 and then Malinga expertly takes Guptil for only 39 and the ball is swinging horribly suddenly for the men from down under. New Zealand 84 for 3 after 21.3 overs Now Sri Lanka are forced to retreat right until the 39th over before they get their next wicket Mendis bowling out Taylor for 36 and a lovely catch from Tharanga puts NZ on 161-4. Time for the power play from Daniel Vettori's men. Then Williamson (22) and N. McCullum (9) are out and are soon joined by Styris (57) and Oram (7) and now a mini-collapse is on. New Zealand 215 for 8 from 47.4 overs Southey and Mackay are quickly polished off and New Zealand manage a only a modest total here of 217 all out from 48.5 overs. Sri Lanka easily reached 230 to beat England here on Saturday and you would fancy your chances here that they'll be in the final by the end of today. Sri Lanka's target is 218 to win Sri Lanka innings During the lunch break Muttiah Muralitharan talks to the BBC and speaks of his final hurrah:
Tharanga is the first to fall in the seventh over and a nice catch by Ryder and Sri Lanka are 40 for one. Now they easily soar to the drinks break over in the 24th without any further wickets falling. Sri Lanka 110 for 1 after 24 overs Indeed New Zealand have to wait until the 32nd over before they see another wicket taken. Dilshan goes for an impressive 73 and Sri Lanka are now 160 for 2 and only 58 runs short of booking a final berth. Then Jayawardene (1) and Sangakkara (54) are next to go but they are edging ever closer to victory and the home crowd can sense it now despite the loss of those last two wickets. Sri Lanka 169 for 4 after 36.2 overs (need 49 more runs to win from 82 balls) Now into the 42 over Sri Lanka are not cruising this any longer. It should be a formality but the runs are coming very slowly and now they have clocked 185 for 4 finding themselves still 33 runs short. Silva now goes for 13 beautifully clean bowled by Southee and as Sri Lanka cautiously limp to the 46th over they pass the 200 mark. Sri Lanka 204 for 5 from 46 overs need 14 runs from 24 balls. Power play is now needed and subsequently introduced by Sri Lanka and indeed they have left it late. Then Samaraweera and Mathews guide them through finishing on 220 for 5 and winning here on their home turf. Tomorrow will see the other semi-final between Pakistan and India to see who will face Sri Lanka in the final. Sri Lanka 220 for 5 (47.5 overs) beat New Zealand 217 all out (48.5 overs) by 5 wickets
It’s my last game and I got a wicket with my last ball - the same thing happened to me in Test cricket so I’m very happy. Hopefully we’ll win this match and the boys will give me a good send off.”
