New Zealand vs Sri Lanka preview

Posted on | April 11, 2007 | No Comments

New Zealand face Sri Lanka in what promises to be a contest between 2 evenly matched teams at the National cricket stadium in St.George, Grenada.

The Kiwis have won all three of their super eight games- against Ireland, Bangladesh and West Indies. They also carried points from the group stage- which means they are currently sitting pretty at the top of the table. Against Ireland, they were in some trouble before McCullum and Franklin came to their rescue. Peter Fulton’s 83 would have made everybody in the Kiwi thinktank happy. Ross Taylor should return for Hamish Marshall in this game, after missing the past few ones with a hamstring problem. Jeetan Patel is expected to play, although he may be replaced by a seamer in the form of Gillespie.

Sri Lanka, who topped the Group of death, suffered a huge blow when Lasith Malinga was ruled out of this game with an ankle injury. Malinga has been the secret weapon for the Islanders, with many batsmen unable to fathom his reverse swinging yorkers at the depth- ask South Africa, who were at the wrong end in Guyana. Malinga not playing will mean that either Maharoof or Kulasekera will take his place. Fernando, Muralitharan and Vaas are the remaining bowlers. Murali will pose a serious threat for the Kiwis, but the fact that both the teams have played each other quite a lot in recent times will help the Black Caps.

It is tough to predict this one. Sri Lanka have handled pressure well, and New Zealand are on an unbeaten streak of 6 games- one short of equalling the record set by Martin Crowe in 1992. This could go either way, but I’ll tip the Kiwis to shade it. Bond, Taylor, Jayasuriya and Murali to shine

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