T20 World Cup 2022, Gr 1, NZ v SL: Phillips 104, Boult 4-13 help New Zealand maintain pole position
ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, Super 12, Group 1, New Zealand vs Sri Lanka: Glenn Phillips' hundred (104 off 64), Trent Boult's 4-13 and Kasun Rajitha's 2-23 are top performances. New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 65 runs and top the Group 1 Points table.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 167/7 (Phillips 104, Mitchell 22, Rajitha 2/23) beat Sri Lanka 102 (Shanaka 35, Rajapaksa 34, Boult 4/13) by 65 runs
Player of the Match: Glenn Phillips (104 off 64 deliveries)
New Zealand manage to manufacture a different match-winner in every game. A new hero in this game was Glenn Phillips who not just saved New Zealand when they were 15-3 but also scored a counter-attacking century out of nowhere. Sloppy Sri Lanka had no one but themselves to blame for this loss. Two dropped catches, few run out chances being missed and an out of juice batting display summed up Sri Lanka’s day in Sydney.
Glenn Phillips stuns Sri Lanka with 104
After two washouts on Friday in Melbourne, the group of death was back with an exciting encounter between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 27th game of ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022. Head-to-head, New Zealand have got the better of Sri Lanka 10 times out of the 19 T20Is in which they have met, with one being a washout. The number goes for a toss in T20 World Cups, where Sri Lanka have won four out of the five games they have faced New Zealand.
After winning the toss, Kane Williamson decided to bowl first with the recovered Daryl Mitchell back in the eleven in place of Mark Chapman. For Sri Lanka too, Binura Fernando who sustained an injury, was replaced by Kasun Rajitha.
Sri Lanka struck first blood on the fourth ball of the innings when Finn Allen was foxed by a delivery which turned sharply after pitching outside off from Maheesh Theekshana, and was clean bowled for one run. Devon Conway and skipper Kane Williamson didn’t stick long either as both were dismissed with New Zealand being three down for 15 runs on the board at the end of the fourth over.
The onus was on Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips to lift New Zealand from the slump towards a respectable total. The duo stitched a classic partnership with ones, twos and the odd boundaries in between. A match-propelling and match-saving partnership of 84 runs between the two ensured New Zealand touched the 100-run mark at the brink of the 15th over. Sri Lanka were very sloppy in the field with respect to catching, throwing and overall ground-fielding as they dropped two catches of Phillips who made sure they paid for their mistakes and went on to score a 64-ball 104 runs to take New Zealand from 15-3 to 167-7 at the end of the 20th over.
If New Zealand lost both the openers in two overs, Sri Lanka’s openers didn’t disappoint either as Tim Southee started with a maiden wicket first over. In fact, one of the most rattling opening bowling combos of Tim Southee and Trent Boult went on to reduce Sri Lanka to 8-4 inside four overs. Sri Lanka’s batters looked down and out and had alr