All-round New Zealand pockets 98-run win

Anderson kept up the aggression, hitting his way to 75 from 46 balls, and was only dismissed off the last ball of the innings, by which time he had pushed his team to 331 for 6.

A true pitch and a fast outfield meant that the result was far from a foregone conclusion at the break. But, Sri Lanka would have known that at least two of its top guns would have to fire if the target was to be chased down. Tillakaratne Dilshan, distinctly rusty, was late on several wild pulls. Fortunately for Sri Lanka, Lahiru Thirimanne found it easy to score fluently, whether driving full deliveries, tucking the ball off his hips or pulling out the ramp shot when the short ball climbed enough.

After a conservative start, Dilshan fell softly, deceived in the air by Daniel Vettori, offering the simplest of return catches. Thirimanne, who comfortably scored at better than a run-a-ball, fell on 65, missing a peach of a yorker from Trent Boult. From there on, the wheels quickly came off. Mahela Jayawardena feathered a nick off Vettori for a duck and Sangakkara got into an awkward position against Boult to be nailed in front of the stumps.

At 129 for 4, the chase was dead in the water, and even with some batting to follow, the odds were stacked against Sri Lanka.

The pacy Adam Milne accounted for Dimuth Karunaratne and Mendis in the 32nd over, and, after that, all that was left was for Mathews to delay the inevitable. Some clean hitting ensured that the margin of defeat was whittled down to 98, as Mathews helped himself to 46 even as Sri Lanka limped to 232 all out.

To see the full scorecard of the match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, please click here.

DON'T MISS OUT! Register now for Cricket World Cup Fantasy. It all starts on Feb 14 >>