DHAKA: Sri Lanka lave lost nine wickets while chasing hosts New Zealand-set 332-run target in the opening match of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 on Saturday.
Lankans, till the filing of the report, have scored 218 runs after the end of 42-over at Hagley Oval ground at Christchurch.
HDRL Thirimanne took the highest 65 runs off 60 ball while Angelo Mathews scored 46.
TG Southee, Kiwi bowlers TA Boult, AF Milne and DL Vettori bagged two wickets each while CJ Anderson picked up one wicket.
Kumar Sangakkara touched two important statistical milestones in the match, scoring 24 runs. He reached 1000 WC runs and became the second-highest run scorer in ODI history crossing Ricky Ponting’s score.
The opening match started at 4:00am Bangladesh time after Lankan captain chose to bowl first winning the toss.
New Zealand scored 331-run for six in 50-overs in the match.
CJ Anderson contributed 75 runs off 46 balls after blasting eight boundaries and two sixes.
Opener BB McCullum, who hit 10 fours and one six, added 65 runs off 49 balls.
Lankan bowlers RAS Lakmal and BMAJ Mendis bagged two wickets each while HMRKB Herath and KMDN Kulasekara picked up one wicket each.
Sri Lanka Squad:
TM Dilshan, HDRL Thirimanne, KC Sangakkara†, DPMD Jayawardene, AD Mathews*, FDM Karunaratne, BMAJ Mendis, KMDN Kulasekara, RAS Lakmal, HMRKB Herath and SL Malinga.
New Zealand Squad:
BB McCullum, MJ Guptill, KS Williamson, LRPL Taylor, GD Elliott, CJ Anderson, L Ronchi†, DL Vettori, TG Southee, AF Milne and TA Boult.
BDST: 1140 HRS, FEB 14, 2015
