Kiwis win warm-up in sparse Wankhede

Cricket365
April 17, 2016

The Wankhede Stadium is still getting ready for the ICC World T20 2016, as most of the stands have the tournament billboards decking them, apart from a couple to the West.

But a few fans turned up to watch the warm-up encounter between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The excitement is only gradually building, as New Zealand eased to a 74-run victory, but the crowd did have its moments.

Colin Munro and Corey Anderson’s entertaining knocks set the stage alight and once Sri Lanka failed to overhaul a huge 227-run target, a practice Super Over made it a little better for those who came to watch.

The star of the show was undoubtedly Munro. His 34-ball 67 featured seven sixes, four of which came off the first four balls of the 10th over. Not to forget, his reverse-sweep off Sachithra Senanayake, that soared into the second tier over point.

He got off to a relatively slow start before racing away to a 22-ball fifty. At the other end, Anderson smashed 60 off 29 balls before retiring out. The innings was full of the typical Anderson-hitting – something Mumbai is familiar with due to the Indian Premier League (IPL).

There was a cameo from Martin Guptill to begin with, to show that the New Zealand top-order continues to have that spunk, despite the absence of Brendon McCullum.

In reply, the Sri Lankan innings never took off. To begin with, Tillakaratne Dilshan went without scoring and the top-order was troubled by some good pace bowling. Adam Milne looked good early on, getting good bounce and carry to the wicketkeeper.

Lahiru Thrimanne (41 off 29 balls) and Chamara Kapugedera (38 off 27 balls) fought, but the mountain was too tall to climb. New Zealand went through the processes to secure a comfortable win. Sri Lanka finished at 152 for seven before regrouping for the practice Super Over.

Milinda Siriwardana and Chamara Kapugedera walked out to bat in the Super Over for Sri Lanka. Siriwardana lofted the second ball for a six over square-leg, but was almost caught at the boundary. He followed that with a four. Kapugedera got back on strike and smashed two fours and a six. Mitchell McClenaghan had conceded 25 runs in the Super Over.

Suranga Lakmal started the defence on a disastrous note. His first delivery was a full-toss, which was carted by Guptill for a six over long-on. To add insult to injury, it was a no-ball. Though there was a boundary later, New Zealand were not able to get six off the last ball.

Nishad Vaidya in Mumbai