Kiwis bow to Murali

Article by rhondathompson

MUMBAI – Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan ignored a hamstring problem as he picked up four wickets to propel Sri Lanka to a thumping 112-run win over New Zealand in their final World Cup Group A match today.
The win catapulted the co-hosts, who were playing away from home for the first time in the tournament, to the top of the group, but their final position will be determined only after today’s match between Australia and Pakistan.
The two sessions at the Wankhede Stadium were dominated by two of Sri Lanka’s most experienced cricketers – captain Kumar Sangakkara and Muralitharan, who made life uncomfortable for the Kiwis despite picking up a hamstring injury, which forced him off the field for a while.
“I dived and got injured a little bit. I strained a hamstring. It’s not a big tear, maybe a small one but it was a discomfort,” said the 38-year-old, who explained he picked up the injury while batting.
His captain was keeping his fingers crossed that the injury would not rule out cricket’s most prolific bowler from the knockout stages.
“We’ve got a few days. Hopefully he can be fully fit within that time period,” said Sangakkara.
“We’ve had guys with injuries before and we managed to fix them up pretty quickly. Hopefully we will have him again for the quarter-finals.
“He needs to play. This is his last World Cup.
We enjoy playing with him; he wins a lot of matches for us.
“What he does really well is bowl and take wickets, so we just want him to do that.”
Sangakkara (111) led from the front by scoring his maiden World Cup century to rescue his team after some early jitters and set New Zealand a 266-run target.
Then the Sri Lankan spinners, led by Muralitharan (four for 25), made sure that the New Zealand batsmen never found their footing to launch a fitting reply. (Reuters)
SCOREBOARDS:
KOLKATA – Scoreboard in the Group B match between Ireland and Netherlands at Eden Gardens, today.
Netherlands innings
E. Szwarczynski c N. O’Brien b Johnston                1
W. Barresi lbw b Stirling    44
T. Cooper c Porterfield b Rankin    5
R. ten Doeschate c Mooney b Stirling                106
A. Kervezee c K. O’Brien b Mooney    12
P. Borren c Porterfield b Mooney    84
A. Buurman run out    26
Mudassar Bukhari run out    11
P. Seelaar run out    0
Adeel Raja run out    0
B. Loots not out    0
Extras (b1, lb8, w5, nb3)    17
Total (all out – 50 overs)    306
Fall of wickets: 7,7, 12, 53, 113, 234, 287, 305, 305, 305, 306.
Bowling: Rankin 9-0-74-1 (3nb, 3w), Johnston 10-1-50-1, Mooney 10-0-59-2, Dockrell 3.4-0-15-0, Stirling 10-0-51-2, Cusack 2.2-0-15-0, K. O’Brien 5-0-33-0 (2w).

Ireland innings
W. Porterfield c Buurman b Cooper    68
P. Stirling c Kervezee b Seelaar    101
E. Joyce c Buurman b Cooper    28
N. O’Brien not out    57
G. Wilson c Buurman b Ten Doeschate                27
K. O’Brien not out    15
Extras (lb 10 w 1)    11
Total (for four wickets – 47.4 overs)                307
Fall of wickets: 177, 179, 233, 279.
Did not bat: A. Cusack, T. Johnston, J. Mooney, G. Dockrell, B. Rankin
Bowling: Mudassar Bukhari 7-0-42-0, Adeel Raja 8-1-44-0, Loots 2-0-29-0, Ten Doeschate 9-1-58-1 (1w), Seelaar 9.4-1-55-1, Borren 5-0-38-0, Cooper 7-1-31-2.
Result: Ireland won by six wickets. (Reuters)
Scoreboard in the Group A match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai today.
Sri Lanka innings
U. Tharanga run out    3
T. Dilshan c Oram b Southee    3
K. Sangakkara b N. McCullum    111
M. Jayawardene lbw b Southee    66
A. Mathews not out    41
T. Samaraweera c
B. McCullum b Styris    5
C. Silva c & b N. McCullum    3
N. Kulasekara c Guptill b Southee    1
L. Malinga c B. McCullum b Oram    6
M. Muralitharan run out    7
A. Mendis not out    0
Extras (lb4, w12, nb3)    19
Total (for nine wickets – 50 overs)                265
Fall of wickets: 13, 19, 164, 210, 219, 224, 232, 239, 260.
Bowling: Southee 10-0-63-3 (5w), Oram 10-1-57-1 (1nb 1w), Bennett 4.1-0-16-0 (1nb, 1w), Ryder 3.5-0-18-0 (1nb, 1w), Franklin 3-0-11-0, Styris 8-0-44-1, N. McCullum 10-0-48-2, K. Williamson 1-0-4-0.
New Zealand innings
M. Guptill lbw b Kulasekara    13
B. McCullum c Jayawardene b Mathews                14
J. Ryder c Sangakkara b Mendis    19
R. Taylor lbw b Muralitharan    33
K. Williamson st Sangakkara b Muralitharan            5
S. Styris c & b Muralitharan    6
J. Franklin c Dilshan b Muralitharan    20
N. McCullum c Jayawardene b Dilshan    4
J. Oram not out    20
T. Southee lbw b Mendis    8
H. Bennett b Malinga    0
Extras (lb4, w6, nb1)    11
Total (all out – 35 overs)    153
Fall of wickets: 29, 33, 82, 88, 93, 102,115, 129,144.
Bowling: Malinga 5-0-38-1 (3w), Kulasekara 7-0-19-1 (2w), Mathews 3-0-19-1, Mendis 6-0-24-2 (1w), Dilshan 6-0-24-1, Muralitharan 8-0-25-4 (1nb).
Result: Sri Lanka won by 112 runs.