Rex Clementine in Brisbane
Sri Lanka had everything going for them on their march towards the semi-finals of the ICC T-20 World Cup in Australia. With their games against New Zealand and England slotted at Sydney Cricket Ground, a venue they had done exceptionally well over the years, many fans hoped that the team will reach the last four stage.
Although the side had been shaken up by a series of injuries, when the Kiwis were reduced to 15 for three, Sri Lanka were eyeing a big win that would not only give them two points but boost their Net Run Rate too. When Glenn Phillips skied one and Pathum Nissanka at long-off, the fielder got his hand to the ball and you sensed a New Zealand collapse. However, the ball popped out of Nissanka’s hands and then all hell broke loose.
Phillips, who is from South Africa had moved to New Zealand as a kid. He mixed up both power hitting and innovation to enable New Zealand to 167 and then Trent Boult ran through the top order to finish with career best figures of four for 13.Philips dominated the day having smashed the second hundred of the World Cup. His 104 came off 64 balls with ten fours and four sixes.
The 65 run defeat pushed Dasun Shanaka’s team to the bottom of Group 1 in the Super 12 round, even below Afghanistan and Ireland. Sri Lanka’s Net Run Rate of -0.89 means that their semi-final hopes are almost over although they are technically not out of the competition.The Sri Lankans arrived in Brisbane yesterday afternoon ahead of their penultimate Super 12 game on Tuesday and will have a training session today.
“I thought we started really well against New Zealand but our fielding let us down. That was the game changer. I have never seen Pathum drop a catch. He is one of our best fielders but unfortunately he missed that chance and then the game drifted away from us,” Shanaka told journalists.
“I think we could have kept them to a score like 130 or 140 if we had taken that cath. Yet again, we didn’t bat well up front. So we know that on these wickets it’s tough. The first two overs are going to be the toughest two overs and we were three down after two overs and that’s not going to help us chasing a target of 160,” Dasun elaborated.
A lot of emphasis has been put in place to raise the national cricket team’s fielding standards this year and although the team looked to have turned a huge corner during the Asia Cup, in Sydney it was back to square one.Although Pathum’s drop catch was highlighted, overall the team’s fielding was well below par with misfields costing them dearly and taking the pressure off from the batsmen making life difficult for the bowlers