New Zealand crush Sri Lanka to place one foot in World Cup semis

New Zealand returned to successful methods on the World Cup following a four-match droop as they defeated Sri Lanka by 5 wickets in Bengaluru on Thursday and all however secured their place within the semi-finals.

Opening batsmen Devon Conway (45) and Rachin Ravindra (42) obtained fourth-placed New Zealand’s chase of 172 off to a quick begin and Daryl Mitchell (43) took them shut earlier than they crossed the end line in 23.2 overs.

Victory left New Zealand on 10 factors – in pole place to assert the final semi-final spot and be part of India, South Africa and Australia.

Pakistan will now have to beat England by an nearly inconceivable margin to leapfrog New Zealand on web run fee.

Afghanistan, who additionally had slim hopes of qualifying for the knockouts, discover themselves in an analogous place as their Asian neighbours earlier than their conflict with South Africa.

“Really good performance,” stated New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson. “The early wickets and spin was a problem by means of these center overs. The pitch actually slowed down later.

“The guys showed some good intent later with the chase, so great performance overall. We thought there was going to be some weather later but there wasn’t any. Hard to read such things.”

Earlier, seamer Trent Boult and off-spinner Mitchell Santner landed well timed blows as Sri Lanka limped to 171 all out after an early blitz by Kusal Perera (51) and a defiant late effort by Maheesh Theekshana (38 not out).

“Nice to get a bit of success at the top. A must-win game, the pleasure is about getting the result,” stated man-of-the-match Boult, who went previous 600 worldwide wickets.

Barring an unlikely miracle in Pakistan’s final recreation, New Zealand will tackle hosts India within the semi-finals.

“Everyone wants a piece of the strong home nation,” Boult stated. “We’re looking forward to it. It’ll be exciting to face India in the semi-finals. They’re playing phenomenal cricket.”

Williamson’s resolution to bowl after successful the toss paid off early, as Boult (3-37) and Tim Southee (1-52) tore by means of the Sri Lanka high order to go away them in some bother at 32-3 inside 5 overs.

Perera, who was dropped on zero by Tom Latham within the second over, punished New Zealand with a 22-ball fifty however misplaced one other associate when Boult trapped Charith Asalanka lbw to show up the warmth on the 1996 champions.

A fit-again Lockie Ferguson (2-35) struck in his second over to dismiss the aggressive Perera as Sri Lanka collapsed to 70-5 and ultimately folded within the forty seventh over for a modest complete after Santner (2-22) and Ravindra (2-21) joined the celebration.

Santner curtailed Sri Lanka throughout an important section of the innings and eliminated Angelo Mathews (16) and Dhananjaya de Silva (19) earlier than Theekshana and Dilshan Madushanka (19) pissed off New Zealand with a Tenth-wicket stand of 43.

“In the first 10 overs, we lost three-four wickets and struggled with the bat,” stated Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis, after his facet dropped to ninth.

“If we had a good partnership in the middle overs, we could have had 300-plus on this wicket.”