It’s the World Cup opening game and hosts New Zealand take on Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka have been a dangerous outfit, especially in the ICC events and have been the runners-up in the last two editions. But form is clearly with the Kiwis at the moment, who will be playing at home and have in a good form lately. In fact, the sides met last month and New Zealand clearly dominated the ODI series, beating Sri Lanka 4-2.
Head-to-head, New Zealand have played Sri Lanka 89 times in One-Day Internationals, winning 41 and losing 40. While one match has ended in a tie, seven have finished as no results. However World Cup presents a different challenge and the pressure is immense. Sri Lanka clearly holds the upper hand in this tournament, winning six of their nine encounters. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Full coverage
Suvajit Mustafi looks at the past encounters between these two teams in World Cup matches.
1. World Cup 1979 – Nottingham
It was a Group Match. Opting to field, New Zealand bowled out Sri Lanka for 189 and chased it down comfortably.
The batting powerhouses of Glenn Turner (83 not out) and Geoff Howarth (63 not out) were too good for the Sri Lankan bowling.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 189 in 56.5 overs (Anura Tennekoon 59; Brian McKechnie 3-25, Warren Stott 3-48) lost to New Zealand 190 for 1 in 47.4 overs (Glenn Turner 83*, Geoff Howarth 63*) by nine wickets
2. World Cup 1983 – Bristol
They met for the second time in a World Cup, again in a Group match. Once again New Zealand opted to field first and chased down the total comfortably.
Like in 1979, this time around as well it was the batting force for Turner and Howarth that combined to beat Sri Lanka by emerging as the top scorers in the Kiwi innings. Richard Hadlee then took over to take five Sri Lankan wickets.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 206 in 56.1 overs (Duleep Mendis 43, Ranjan Madugalle 60; Richard Hadlee 5-25) lost to New Zealand 209 for 5 in 39.2 overs (Glenn Turner 50, John Wright 45, Geoff Howarth 76) by five wickets
3. World Cup 1983 – Derby | Group Stage
Sri Lanka won the toss and fielded first and to dismiss the Kiwis for only 181. They were 116 for nine at one stage before Martin Snedden scored an inspired 40 to get them to the total.
In a closely-fought contest, Sri Lanka pulled off a three-wicket win.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 181 in 58.2 overs (Martin Snedden 40, Ashantha de Mel 5-32) lost to Sri Lanka 184 for 7 in 52.5 overs (Brendon Kuruppu 62, Roy Dias 64) by three wickets
4. World Cup 1992 – Hamilton | league match
It was a league game and New Zealand were red-hot favourites, winning seven of their eight league matches. Winning the toss in the home game against Sri Lanka, they decided to field.
They restricted Sri Lanka to 206 and chased it down without any trouble.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 206 for 9 in 50 overs (Roshan Mahanama 80; Willie Watson 3-37, Chris Harris 3-43) lost to New Zealand 210 for 4 in 48.2 overs (John Wright 57, Andrew Jones 49, Ken Rutherford 65*) by six wickets
5. World Cup 2003 – Bloemfontein | Group Stage
New Zealand chose to field first hoping their bowlers would restrict Sri Lanka to a low score. However that was not to be as the Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya scored a fluent hundred to take his side to 272.
For New Zealand, none of their batsmen got going except for Scott Styris who belted 145 from just 125 in a losing cause.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 272 for 7 in 50 overs (Sanath Jayasuriya 120, Hashan Tillakaratne 81*; Nathan Astle 3-34) bt New Zealand 225 in 45.3 overs (Scott Styris 145; Russell Arnold 3-47) by 47 runs
6. World Cup 2007 – St Georges | Super Eight
It was a crucial Super Eight match and New Zealand choosing to bat didn’t really put up a strong total.
Styris scored a slow but important hundred which helped them to 219, but it wasn’t enough for the strong Sri Lankan batting line-up, who chased it down in the 46th over.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 219 in 50 overs (Scott Styris 111*; Chaminda Vaas 3-33, Muttiah Muralitharan 3-32) lost to Sri Lanka 222 for 4 in 45.1 overs (Sanath Jayasuriya 64, Kumar Sangakkara 69*) by six wickets
7. World Cup 2007 – Jamaica | semi-final
Twelve days after their Super Eight encounter, the sides again met again in the semi-final.
This time Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene crafted a breezy ton to bat the Kiwis out of the game and reach the World Cup final for the second time.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 289 for 5 in 50 overs (Upul Tharanga 73, Mahela Jayawardene 115*) bt New Zealand 208 in 41.4 overs (Peter Fulton 46; Muttiah Muralitharan 4-31) by 81 runs
8. World Cup 2011 – Mumbai | Group Stage
Sri Lanka had several stars and two of them rose to the big occasion.
First an inspiring hundred from captain Kumar Sangakkara took them to 265, and then Muttiah Muralitharan wrecked the dangerous Kiwi batting line-up to register another win.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 265 for 9 in 50 overs (Kumar Sangakkara 111, Mahela Jayawardene 66, Angelo Mathews 41*; Tim Southee 3-63) bt New Zealand 153 in 35 overs (Muttiah Muralitharan 4-25) by 112 runs
9. World Cup 2011 – Colombo | semi-final
It was the second time that these two sides met in a World Cup semi-final, in fact it was the second consecutive time. The match was being played in Colombo and Sri Lanka were the favourites.
New Zealand won the toss and batted first, but failed to put on a sizable total. New Zealand bowlers tried their best but the score of 217 was too low against the strong Sri Lankan line-up, who once again got the better of the Kiwis to cruise to the final.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 217 in 48.5 overs (Scott Styris 57; Lasith Malinga 3-55, Ajantha Mendis 3-35) lost to Sri Lanka 220 for 5 in 47.5 overs (Tillakaratne Dilshan 73, Kumar Sangakkara 54; Tim Southee 3-53) by five wickets
Head-to-head in all ODIs
Played: 89 SL: 40 NZ: 41 Tied: 1
Most Runs: Kumar Sangakkara (SL) Runs: 1529 (46 ODIs) Average: 40.2
Most Wickets: Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) Wickets: 74 (41 ODIs) Average: 17.9
Head-to-head in World Cups
Played: 9 SL: 6 NZ: 3
Most Runs: Scott Styris (NZ) Runs: 352 (5 ODIs) Average: 88.0
Most Wickets: Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) Wickets: 15 (5 ODIs) Average: 11.5
(Suvajit Mustafi consumes cricket for lunch, fiction for dinner and munches numerous other snacks throughout the day. Yes, a jack of several trades, all Suvajit dreamt of was being India’s World Cup winning skipper but ended up being a sports writer, author, screenwriter, director, copywriter, graphic designer, sports marketer, strategist, entrepreneur, philosopher and traveller. Donning so many hats, it’s cricket which gives him the ultimate high and where he finds solace. He can be followed at @RibsGully and rivu7)
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