Glenn Phillips smashed a powerhouse 104 and Trent Boult grabbed 4 wickets as New Zealand swept previous Sri Lanka by 65 runs in Sydney on Saturday to place them in pole place to make the semi-finals at the Twenty20 World Cup.
New Zealand batted first and posted 167-7 with Phillips unstoppable, rescuing his staff after the highest order was blown away, dropping Finn Allen, Doug Conway and Kane Williamson for 15 runs.
Boult and Tim Southee then decreased Sri Lanka to 4-8 within the chase and there was no manner again as they crumbled to 102 all out. Boult ended with a career-best 4-13.Â
Phillips hit 10 fours and 4 sixes in his 64-ball knock —  the second century of the event, after South African Rilee Rossouw’s 109 towards Bangladesh, and solely the eleventh in T20 World Cup historical past.
“Incredible, any hundred is amazing but the way he worked hard and put pressure on the opposition after our poor start,” skipper Williamson stated. “The boys executed the plans really well.”
Phillips stated it was “absolutely indescribable” to attain a century at the World Cup.
“I try to entertain as much as possible, and today it worked out well,” he added.
Plenty was on the road with Group One large open after each matches in Melbourne on Friday — Australia v England and Afghanistan v Ireland — have been washed out.
New Zealand’s win provides them a two level buffer, and a superior run fee, at the highest of the desk from England, Ireland and Australia with two video games to play.
They face a crunch recreation towards England subsequent in Brisbane on Tuesday whereas Sri Lanka face a must-win conflict with Afghanistan on the identical day to maintain their hopes alive.
“Credit to Glenn Phillips who played an outstanding knock. We also dropped a few catches. 160 is always a tough ask with their bowling attack,” stated Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.
“If we get a couple of wins, we’re still in with a chance of qualifying, so just looking forward to that.”
Got worse
Sri Lanka started with the spin of Maheesh Theekshana after dropping the toss, and it instantly paid dividends.
Allen took aside Australia’s hallowed tempo assault of their opening recreation throughout a 16-ball 42, however he managed simply three balls and one run this time, confounded by an inswinger within the opening over.
Conway, who smashed an unbeaten 92 towards Australia, fared little higher. Spinner Dhananjaya de Silva joined the assault and Conway was bowled, additionally for one.
Things bought worse when skipper Williamson (8) bought an outdoor edge off tempo bowler Kasun Rajitha within the subsequent over and was caught behind.
Phillips and Daryl Mitchell, returning to the aspect after fracturing his hand, crawled to 54-3 at the midway level.
But Phillips then flicked a change, with sloppy fielding aiding him, dropped by Pathum Nissanka on 12 and once more on 45 by Shanaka.
An 84-run stand with Mitchell ended when his accomplice was bowled for 22 by Wanindu Hasaranga. Mitchell Santner was alongside him when he introduced up solely his second T20 100 within the nineteenth over earlier than being caught within the closing over.
Sri Lanka made the worst doable begin to the chase, dropping three wickets for 5 runs.
Southee bowled a wicket-maiden to open proceedings, trapping Nissanka lbw, then long-time bowling accomplice Boult chipped in with two wickets in his first over.
He enticed an edge from Kusal Mendis to Conway then de Silva chopped onto his wicket. Charith Asalanka didn’t final for much longer, caught by a diving Allen as Boult grabbed his third.
Spinner Santner got here on and Chamika Karunaratne swung his bat, solely to seek out Boult within the deep, leaving Sri Lanka in disarray.
Shanaka hit a gutsy 35 and Bhanuka Rajapaksa 34, however to no avail.
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