World Cup 2023: NZ bundle out SL for 171
Sri Lanka have been folded for 171/10 against New Zealand in their last league game of the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup. The Kiwi bowlers were just too hot to handle for SL as Trent Boult starred with the ball. Kusal Perera's fiery half-century at the top and Maheesh Theekshana's valiant 39* helped SL cross the 100-run mark. Here are further details.
SL lost five wickets inside powerplay
Batting first in Bengaluru, SL suffered a top-order collapse as Boult breathed fire with the new ball. He scalped two wickets in his third over. Meanwhile, Perera was unfazed by the fall of wickets as he slashed hard on almost every ball. At the time of his dismissal, SL were 70/5 and 51 of those runs belonged to Perera.
Fastest fifty in the competition
Perera reached his fifty off just 22 balls, the fastest in the ongoing tournament. He displaced Kusal Mendis and Australia's Travis Head at the top, who took 25 balls apiece to get the milestone against South Africa and Pakistan, respectively. Perera slammed the joint-second fastest WC fifty by an SL batter, joining Dinesh Chandimal. Angelo Mathews (20 balls versus Scotland, 2015) tops this list.
50 WC wickets for Boult
With his first wicket of the day, Boult became the first Kiwi bowler to take 50 ODI WC wickets. Overall, Boult is now the sixth bowler to take 50-plus ODI World Cup wickets. He has now raced to 52 scalps in 28 games at a 24-plus average. Boult has also got to 250 wickets in List A cricket (now 252).
A crucial 10th-wicket stand
SL's paltry total would have been even lower had Maheesh Theekshana not played a handy knock. He survived 91 balls for his unbeaten 39. He added 43 runs with Dilshan Madushanka (19) for the final wicket. This is now the highest 10th-wicket stand by an SL pair in a WC match.
A look at the other NZ bowlers
Lockie Ferguson bowled well and finished with 2/35 in 10 overs. The in-form Mitchell Santner also finished his quota of overs and claimed 2/22. Both bowers delivered two maidens apiece. Rachin Ravindra also dismissed two batters and finished with 2/21 in 7.4 overs. Tim Southee got the remaining wickets as he finished with 1/52 in eight overs.
