Sri Lanka beat New Zealand to reach ICC cricket world cup final

With an excellent century by the captain Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka cruised to a 81 run victory in their semi-final clash against New Zealand, thus booking themselves a place in this Sunday's world cup final clash.

Yesterday's century by Jayawardene was not only an important captain's knock, but an example of how a batsman should pace his innings. When i reached home and switched on the TV, i saw that he had scored 39 runs of 60 balls. The situation didn't look so good then, though they had a run-rate of around 4.5. But, as the innings progressed, jayawardane's strike rate slowly increased to almost run-a-ball and before the New Zealander's could realise it, he had ensured that Sri Lanka would get to a good total by partnering more than 100 runs in the last 10 overs.

The first few overs of the New Zeland innings were entertaining to watch with the control of vaas and the unplayable swinging deliveries of Lasith Malinga. Everyone was having a smile, including the batsmen, who were moving their bats in all possible directions in an attempt to make contact with the ball, only to find out that it had long reached the wicketkeeper!

Every match in the world cup seems to have a negative fallout. After this match, Stephen Fleming, one of the most successful captains in present day cricket, announced that he is stepping down as the one-day captain of New Zealand. He had shown to the cricketing world that even without superstars in your side, smart cricket can win you matches.

Srilankans have more than 3 days off to prepare for their title clash against the winners of South Africa and Australia, which in all probability, going by their current indomitable form, is Australia!

Some images from the match:

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