Rex Clementine reporting from Johannesburg

Sangakkara fined 20 percent for slow over-rate

On a day when Sri Lanka required to come out with all guns blazing, they put up one of their worst displays in One-Day cricket to get extremely close to exiting the Champions Trophy after losing their must win last group game to New Zealand, whom they had incidentally thrashed at home prior to the tournament, by 38 runs here at the Wanderers in Johannesburg yesterday.

Technically, they still have a chance - if England win their remaining two games and South Africa and New Zealand lose those games by bigger margins.

There was nothing that the Sri Lankans could get right yesterday from reading of the pitch to team selection and execution - both with bat and ball.

To add insult to injury, they put up one of the worst fielding displays by a Sri Lankan team in recent times and along with India would qualify as the worst fielding team around at the moment, having let off three chances and conceded quite a few runs due to misfields.

They allowed New Zealand a flying start after dropping Jesse Ryder twice, when on 12 and 38 and having raced to his half-century in just 28 deliveries, he went on to score 74 runs in 58 deliveries, batting with a runner after pulling a groin muscle.

Sri Lankan clawed their way back into the game with five quick wickets as Sanath Jayasuriya and Angelo Mathews chipped in with two wickets each as New Zealand lost five wickets for 36 runs.

They could have put the opposition under tremendous pressure, but a run out chance off Daniel Vettori on six was missed by captain Sangakkara when the batsman responded to a call for a single by Martin Guptill.

The reprieve hurt the Sri Lankans as Vettori went onto post 48, his highest score against Sri Lanka in ODIs and added 69 runs for the sixth wicket with Martin Guptill.

The seventh wicket pair of James Franklin and Guptill also added 54 runs for the seventh wicket as Sri Lanka leaked as many as 61 runs when New Zealand took the Batting Power Play in the last five overs.

The Sri Lankans paid dearly for leaving out veteran Muttiah Muralitharan, the highest wicket taker in the world in both forms of the game. This is the first occasion that the spin legend has been dropped from the side after cementing his place in the side in the early 90s.

In hindsight, the wicket that helped seam bowlers during Sri Lanka’s game against England, offered plenty of assistance for the spinners yesterday.

Of the 50 overs in the New Zealand innings, 20 were bowled by the spinners.

Part-timer Sanath Jayasuriya, in particular, was impressive, claiming three for 39 in his 10 overs.

Muralitharan’s replacement - Thilan Thushara went for 50 runs in just seven overs and failed to pick up a wicket.

Guptill was out in the 48th over for 66 runs while Franklin remained unbeaten on 28.

Lasith Malinga was disappointing, giving away 85 runs in his quota of 10 overs, claiming just one wicket.

To make things worse, the Sri Lankans, who took nearly four hours to complete their 50 overs, were fined by ICC Match Referee Javagal Srinath.

Captain Sangakkara was fined 20 percent of his match fee, while the rest of the team received ten percent fines each.

In the run chase, Sri Lanka got off to a flier as Tillekeratne Dilshan and

Jayasuriya added 66 runs for the first wicket, but once Darryl Tuffey picked up Jayasuriya for 24, they lost quick wickets.

Tillekeratne Dilshan went on to post 41 in 31 deliveries with seven boundaries and a six, but Sangakkara (11), Thilan Samaraweera (17), Thilina Kandamby (11) and Mathews (2) all fell cheaply.

Mahela Jayawardene wasn’t going to give up without a fight. He hung in there despite Sri Lanka’s chances looking bleak with the loss of each wicket.

A 78 run stand for the seventh wicket with Nuwan Kulasekara revived Sri Lanka’s hopes as Jayawardene hit 77 in 84 deliveries with six boundaries and two sixes, both off Shane Bond with the second one brining up his half-century.

After he got out in the 39th over, Kulasekara threw his bat around and reached his maiden half-century, but the top order had left too much to be done and he was left stranded on 57 when they were all out for 277 in the 47th over.

Kulasekara required just 56 deliveries for his 57 and hit two boundaries and four sixes.

B. McCullum ct Dilshan b Mathews 46

J. Ryder ct Sangakkara b Kulasekara 74

M. Guptill b Malinga 66

R. Taylor ct Jayawardene b Jayasuriya 04

G. Elliott lbw b Mathews 00

N. Broom ct Jayawardene b Jayasuriya 15

D. Vettori ct sub (Kapugedara) b Jayasuriya 48

J. Franklin not out 28

K. Mills not out 18

Extras:  (b 3, lb 2, nb 3, w 8) 16

Overs: 50

Fall of wickets: 1-125, 2-128, 3-133, 4-140, 5-161, 6-230, 7-284.

Did not bat: D. Tuffey and S. Bond

Bowling: Kualsekara 7-0-52-1 (1w), Thushara 7-0-50-0 (4w) (2nb), Malinga 10-0-85-1 (2w), Mendis 9-1-49-0, Mathews 6-0-33-2, Jayasuriya 10-0-39-3, Kandamby 1-0-2-0.

T. Dilshan ct sub (Patel) b Mills 41

S. Jayasuriya ct Mills b Tuffey 24

K. Sangakkara ct Taylor b Franklin 11

M. Jayawardene b Vettori 77

T. Samaraweera ct Broom b Vettori 17

T. Kandamby run out (Elliott/Vettori) 11

A. Mathews ct Guptill b Franklin 02

N. Kulasekara not out 57

T. Thushara ct Guptill b Mills 11

L. Malinga ct Taylor b Mills 15

A. Mendis ct Vettori b Tuffey 03

Extras: (lb 2, w 5, nb 1) 08

Overs: 46.4

Fall of wickets: 1-66, 2-67, 3-84, 4-114, 5-137, 6-141, 7-219, 8-243, 9-262.

Bowling: Mills 10-0-69-3 (1w), Bond 9-0-82-0 (1w), Tuffey 8.4-1-39-2 (3w), Franklin 9-0-40-2 (1nb), Vettori 10-0-45-2.

Toss: SL

Result: NZ won by 38

Man of the match: D. Vettori

Umpires: I. Gould (Eng) and D. Harper (Aus)

Third Umpire: Aleem Dar (Pak)

Match Referee: J. Srinath (Ind)