Bengaluru, Nov 9: Asked to bat first, Sri Lanka were 170/9 in 46 overs against New Zealand in the 41st match of the ICC Men's ODI Cricket World Cup at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Opener Kusal Perera showed some resilience and scored a fighting half century amid regular fall of wickets at the other end.
Top order batters Pathum Nissanka (2), Kusal Mendis (6), Sadeera Samarawickrama (1) and Charith Asalanka (8) fell in quick succession, unable to withstand the lethal Kiwis new ball attack.
Later, Kusal Perera too departed after making 51 as he was removed by Lockie Ferguson, who replaced Southee as the first change bowler.
Angelo Mathews, who walked into record books in Sri Lanka's previous match against Bangladesh by becoming the first batsman in international cricket to be given 'Timed Out', did put up a brief fight on Thursday against the Black Caps. But Mathews, departed after contributing only 16. He felt prey to New Zealand's spin spearhead Mitchell Santner.
Dhananjaya de Silva (19) was also claimed by Santner, as Lanka were reeling at 105/7 in just 18.3 overs.
Lockie Ferguson compounded Lanka's worries as he removed Chamika Karunaratne for 6.
Dushmantha Chameera played 20 balls and scored 1, before he was out caught by Boult of part time spinner Rachin Ravindra..
Seasoned Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson were superb with their opening spells making the whit-ball move in either ways. Unable to negotiate, Lankan batsmen appeared helpless and clueless.
New Zealand desperately need a victory in their last league match against Sri Lanka to keep their semi-final hopes alive. The Lankans on the contrary are already out of the semi race with only two wins form their last eight encounters in the tournament.
