Ton up Glenn, swing of trent win It for kiwis
New Zealand crush Sri Lanka by 65 runs to consolidate their position at the top of Group 1
Sydney, Australia - Glenn Phillips smashed a power-packed 104 and Trent Boult grabbed four wickets as New Zealand swept past Sri Lanka by 65 runs in Sydney on Saturday to put them in pole position to make the semifinals at the Twenty20 World Cup.
New Zealand batted first and posted 167-7 with Phillips unstoppable, rescuing his team after the top order was blown away, losing Finn Allen, Doug Conway and Kane Williamson for 15 runs.
Boult and Tim Southee then reduced Sri Lanka to 4-8 in the chase and there was no way back as they crumbled to 102 all out. Boult ended with a careerbest 4-13.
Phillips hit 10 fours and four sixes in his 64-ball knock - the second century of the tournament, after South African Rilee Rossouw’s 109 against Bangladesh, and only the 11th in T20 World Cup history.
“Incredible, any hundred is amazing but the way he worked hard and put pressure on the opposition after our poor start,” skipper Williamson said. “The boys executed the plans really
well.”
Phillips said it was “absolutely indescribable” to score a century
at the World Cup.
“I try to entertain as much as possible, and today it worked out well,” he added.
Plenty was on the line with
Group One wide open after both matches in Melbourne on Friday - Australia v England and
Afghanistan v Ireland - were
washed out.
New Zealand’s win gives them a two-point buffer, and a superior run rate, at the top of the table from England, Ireland and Australia with two games to play.
They face a crunch game against England next in Brisbane on Tuesday while Sri Lanka face a must-win clash with Afghanistan on the same day to keep their hopes alive.
“Credit to Glenn Phillips who played an outstanding knock. We al-so dropped a few catches. 160 is always a tough ask with their bowling attack,” said Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.
“If we get a couple of wins, we’re still in with a chance of qualifying, so just looking forward to that.”
Sri Lanka began with the spin of Maheesh Theekshana after losing the toss, and it immediately paid dividends.
Allen took apart Australia’s hallowed pace attack in their opening game during a 16-ball 42, but he managed just three balls and one run this time, confounded by an inswinger in the opening over. Conway, who
smashed an unbeaten 92 against Australia, fared little better. Spin
ner Dhananjaya de Silva joined the attack and Con-way was
bowled, also for one.