ness_228

Bank 116

The Kiwis produced a stunning display of fielding coupled with disciplined bowling to overturn the Chokers and fully deserve their semi-final berth.
SL fielded like amateurs, bowled sensibly and still comfortably saw off the weak and feeble challenge of the Enlish bowlers.

The danger for NZ is that the 1/4 final was their final and that they will be emotionally drained for another test 4 days later.
The danger for SL is that 3 wickets and NZ are into a batting line up without a great deal of form or practice in the tournament. However, the top 4 are scoring really heavily - and the pitch will not offer a great deal to the bowlers.

The pitch for the Eng v SL game (the same pitch as today) was low / slow and helpful to spin. I am not convinced that Vettori is 100% and the McCullum/Woodcock combo may be vulnerable to the Dilshan/Sangakkara/Jayawardene skill at playing the slow stuff.
The pitch will not assist Oram in the same way as the pitch v SA.

In their 1st match up SL cruised past NZ on a pitch that didnt turn a lot by 100+ runs, and the SL openers only got 6 between them !
Although the NZ batting has toughened up recently you still can't see them posting a big enough score batting 1st to trouble SL (need 275+) and you can see SL winning the toss, batting and making enough runs to back NZ into a corner - and possibly, possibly that could be dangerous as NZ do possess a lot of power and if the only way out is to attack, and, one or more than one of them comes off then they could chasedown a big score (a la Ireland or England vs India)

BACK NZ to score more 6's  £8 @ 1.89
BACK SL Opening Partnership more than 30 £15 @ 1.71
BACK Over 1.5 RunOuts £7 @ 2.42