They just destroyed us in the first ten overs: Fleming

Rex Clementine

July 31, 2001

After a disappointing performance by New Zealand, the Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming still remained positive about his side's chances of making it to the Coca-Cola Cup final.

"I think we've got a good chance. If India lose tomorrow we are through to the final. We can put aside this dismal performance and come back with a good one when we meet India," said Fleming whose side was comprehensively beaten by Sri Lanka by 107 runs.

"Very disappointing performance. But once again the Sri Lankans played exceptionally well. We didn't push hard in this game," reflected Fleming. "We've never played on this ground. So we didn't know what's a good score. The partnerships helped the Sri Lankans to put up a good score."

The Black Caps so far in the tournament have been struggling against spin. But this time around the fast bowlers did most of the damage, "The fast bowlers really bowled well. They achieved a lot of movement and took the game away from us. They just destroyed us in the first ten overs," said Fleming.

Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya was thrilled about his side's performance. "It was a good all-round performance. It was nice to go past 220 and then the bowlers did very well to restrict them. The cream of the batting was back in the pavilion by the 10th over."

Fleming put Sri Lanka in on winning the toss. Jayasuriya revealed he would have done the same had he had won the toss. "It was a good toss to lose. I would have bowled first had I won the toss."

Jayasuriya was also happy with the way the batsmen played. "All the batsmen are among the runs. That's what is important. Only Mahela was struggling and now he's among the runs as well. After this, his confidence level was high and this was evident in the field."

Sri Lanka are through to the final and when asked as whether they would rest some of the players to give others a chance, Jayasuriya said, "We haven't decided on the team for the Indian game yet."

Man of the match Chaminda Vaas bowled a superb spell of fast bowling changing the cause of the game as he sent back three of the top order batsmen back to the pavilion in his first spell.

"I would have loved to bowl first. The conditions were ideal for fast bowling. But things worked very well for me later in the day," said the Sri Lankan fast bowler. "I loved the wicket of Jacob Oram. The ball really moved away from the batsman."

Vaas who bowled a first spell of 5-1-10-3 did not get any wickets in his second spell, "I would have loved to end up with five wickets and Sanath gave me a second spell as well but it didn't work."

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Matches

Sri Lanka v New Zealand at Colombo (SSC)

Series/Tournaments

Coca-Cola Cup (Sri Lanka)

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New Zealand

Sri Lanka