Tillakaratne Dilshan, who had scored 76 off 53 in regulation time, set
himself under the ball at long-off, turning side ways to make sure he
knew where the boundary cushions were - they were six inches from his
toenails - and took the catch after the ball had passed his body and had
almost entered the air space beyond the boundary. Had Dilshan missed
that, this Martin Guptill hit off Lasith Malinga would have left New
Zealand needing two off the last ball of the Super Over. The catch
sealed Sri Lanka's win. Such were the margins of a freak match that was
tied with a freak run-out off the last ball.
About 40 minutes ago, Sri Lanka were 143 for 3 after 16.3 overs, the
same score that New Zealand had after 16.3. New Zealand would have been
disappointed with the 31 they got after that, considering the start
given to them by Rob Nicol, in association with Guptill and Brendon
McCullum. With the ball, though, Southee and James Franklin pulled
things back against the faltering hosts, who lost two batsmen to
run-outs.
Only 30 runs had come in 5.3 overs leading to that even point, which had
put Sri Lanka under some pressure. Southee added to it with an over of
yorkers to leave them needing 21 off the last two. Ross Taylor risked
bowling Franklin, who had helped them win a similar chase recently
against India. Dilshan slog-swept the first ball for a six. On the next
ball, though, he took an ill-advised second and even a desperate dive
couldn't save him.
Thisara Perera scooped Franklin for a four later in the over. At eight
required from seven balls, Perera was one delivery from making Southee's
last over irrelevant, but Franklin's slower ball arrived after he had
finished his swing, and it had enough legs to tickle the bail out of its
groove. Southee went back to bowling full and straight from round the
stumps. Angelo Mathews took a single first ball, and it was time for
Lahiru Thirimanne to test weak hearts.
The first ball he faced, Thirimanne moved well across to the off side in
an attempt to beat short fine leg. Southee stayed in the block hole,
and Thirimanne managed just the single. Another yorker, another single
for Mathews: five off three. Southee remained full, Thirmanne drove and
was beaten. Advantage New Zealand.
Thirimanne now dug Sri Lanka out of a hole he had partly dug. Again he
took the incredible risk of aiming over short fine leg, Southee missed
his yorker by six inches, and Thirimanne got under it. Fists were pumped
both in the middle and in the dugout as soon as the ball cleared the
fielder. The best New Zealand could get now was a tie. Earlier in the
afternoon, Nicol had hit debutant mystery bowler Akila Dananjaya smack
on the face with a straight drive, but he and McCullum did not run off
the ricochet. Would things have been different had they not been such
sports?
That would have been the last thing on their minds when New Zealand
pulled the field in to try to save that single. Southee surprised
Thirimanne with a short ball, he bat-padded it to point, where Franklin
kept a cool head and returned a gentle throw on a comfortable bounce to
Taylor at the non-striker's end. Taylor fumbled the take. He missed a
dolly. Sri Lanka began to celebrate, and a disappointed Taylor shook
hands with the umpires, who - just to be sure - asked for the third
umpire's help. The stumps had somehow been broken.
The replays showed the ball had hit Taylor's hand and bounced on to the
stumps. In real time it seemed as though Taylor had broken the wicket
without the ball in his hands. Technology surprised everyone, and the
game went into the Super Over. Southee continued his good work in the
tiebreaker, but two of his yorkers were wides. Even so, he had conceded
just 10 off the first five balls, but Perera scooped the last delivery
over short fine leg to register three crucial runs.
Malinga, who had an average tournament until then, decided this was a
moment as good as any to make an impact. He hardly missed his length
with the first four balls: two, one, two byes, one. Malinga then missed
his yorker by about a foot, Guptill got under it, but this was Dilshan's
night.
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