Kiwis thrash Sri Lanka

New Zeal and made a flying start to their World Cup campaign as paceman Matt Henry struck three times in a 10-wicket trashing of woeful Sri Lanka yesterday. Henry returned figures of 3-29 and combined with fellow paceman Lockie Ferguson, who also took three wickets, to bowl out Sri Lanka for just 136 in 29.2 overs in Cardiff.

Martin Guptill and Colin Munro then hit unbeaten half-centuries to make short work of their modest target. The Kiwis cruised home in 16.1 overs to register their third win in a World Cup game by 10 wickets. The right-left batting combination of Guptill, who hit 73, and Munro, who scored 58, had little trouble in smashing the Sri Lankan bowlers to all parts of the ground. Guptill hammered eight fours and two sixes including one hit that sailed out of the ground. But it was Henry’s spell of seven straight overs that opened the gates for New Zealand’s domination against the 1996 champions.

“It’s a great start for us. You want a balanced attack going into any surface. It is important that you have that to have aggressive options for different occasions,” New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said. “The two at the top played beautifully. It was nice for those guys to play a few shots. It was a good all-around performance.” Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne added: “It was a good toss to win. In the morning it was seaming and swinging. They had that advantage and they have good bowlers to do that, so they took their chance.