NEITHER the West Indies nor Ireland could have done it and at one point, it looked as if Sri Lanka would, but Nathan McCullum kept his cool when most of his teammates before him lost theirs, as New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by two wickets to win the opening match of the International Cricket Council (ICC) 2010 Twenty20 World Cup at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, yesterday.
Sri Lanka won the toss and, opting to take first strike in sweltering heat, got a 35-run first wicket stand from the veteran Mahela Jayawardene (81) the first half-century of the tournament and an out-of-sorts Tillakaratne Dilshan (3) before ending on 135-6 from their 20 overs.
Needing to score 19 runs from one over and four balls, Nathan McCullum, who was later named man-of-the-match, struck an unbeaten 16 from six deliveries with one four and a match-winning six over long off in the final over, to steer the Black Caps to 139-8 from 19.5 overs.
Scores in the match: Sri Lanka 135-6, New Zealand 139-8.
Jayawardene showed the near packed-to-capacity Guyana National Stadium the batting style that netted him 159 runs at a strike rate of 152.88 in the 2007 T20 tournament, when he pulled Shane Bond over square leg for four.
That was followed by another four through cover point off Nathan McCullum, while he took a liking to Bond who was struck for a hat-trick of boundaries followed by a six over deep square leg also off Bond.
A struggling Dilshan lost his middle stump to Jacob Oram, but not before the bowler was smashed through extra cover by Jayawardene, while Kumar Sangakkara (4) did not last long to cause the Black Caps any trouble, as he too was bowled by danger man Scott Styris which left Sri Lanka on 44-2.
Debutant Dinesh Chandimal (29) joined Jayawardene and they took the fight to the New Zealanders, with the former hitting Styris back over his head for six, while the latter inched closer to the first half-century of this year’s tournament, with his second six struck back over the head of Styris.
He got there eventually from 33 deliveries with four fours and two sixes and celebrated with a boundary through the point area off Timothy Southee, as he demonstrated a level of peace and calm while batting on a two-paced pitch.
He lost Chandimal, courtesy of a brilliant rebound catch by Ross Taylor at long on off Nathan McCullum, bringing his 59-run third-wicket partnership which took himself and Jayawardene 7.2 overs to accumulate, to an end.
The quick demise of Jayawardene for a pugnacious 81 made off 51 deliveries with eight fours and two sixes, Chamara Kapugedara 11 (1×6), Angelo Matthews (3), meant Sri Lanka were restricted to 135-6 from their 20 overs, with the dangerous Sanath Jayasuriya on duck, as he failed to face a delivery.
Despite being roughed up by Jayawardene, Bond ended as New Zealand’s best bowler with his 2-35 from four overs, while Nathan McCullum, who took three well judged catches late in Sri Lanka’s innings, supported him with 1-17 and Styris 1-13.
Unlike Sri Lanka, New Zealand innings got off to a disastrous start with their pugnacious opener Brendon McCullum departing off the fourth ball of the first over without scoring, courtesy of a brilliant catch by Lasith Malinga at midwicket off Matthews.
Jesse Ryder, who made a cameo 27-ball 42 with three fours and two sixes, was joined by Martin Guptil (19) and they added 62 for the second wicket from 7.5 overs, with Ryder hitting Chanaka Welegedera for four to fine leg while Guptil struck the same bowler back along the ground for four.
Matthews was struck for four by Ryder while Guptil greeted Lasith Malinga with a six back over his head off his first delivery, as New Zealand, who defeated both Ireland and the West Indies in their two warm-up matches, scored their first 50 from 7.1 overs in comparison to the 9.2 Sri Lanka took to get theirs.
Muttiah Muralitharan was brought into the attack and Ryder showed no signs of fear for the man who has over 700 Test wickets, when he pulled him over midwicket for his second six, but Muralitharan had the last laugh when he knocked back his stumps two deliveries later.
Jayasuriya did not get a chance to bat, but he displayed his left-arm orthodox spin to the now packed-to-capacity crowd, when he bowled Guptil to leave New Zealand on 66-3 in the 10th over of their innings, with Styris and Taylor at the wicket.
A short delivery from Ajantha Mendis was sent crashing through midwicket by Styris who was dropped by Jayawardene at extra cover off Muralitharan, but Taylor did not get such a reprieve as Matthews held onto his offer on the deep midwicket boundary, two balls after Styris was dropped, leaving his team on 87-4 after 15 overs.
Styris did not hang around long enough to cause any problems for the Tamil Tigers, as he was bowled by Mendis, but back-to-back sixes from Oram pushed New Zealand to 110-5 in the 17th over, leaving them to score 26 from the final three overs.
That became a Herculean task, following the demise of Oram who was bowled by Welegedera for a six-ball 15 which was decorated with two sixes and Gareth Hopkins (1) who was run-out following a Dilshan return to Sangakkara from deep backward point, leaving Vettori and the tail to garner 19 runs from 1.4 overs.
A Vettori four off Welegedera helped ease the tension, but New Zealand were left to get 10 runs from their final over bowled by Malinga, the first man to take a helmet trick at the Guyana National Stadium, having done so in the 2007 CWC against South Africa.
Nathan McCullum went down on his knees to sweep Malinga to the vacant backward square leg boundary for four, before Vettori, who was given a let-off when Malinga missed the stumps after being sent back by Mc Cullum, was run-out. A Nathan McCullum six over long off which capped a fine match for the young all-rounder who was unbeaten on 16, sealed the victory for the Black Caps, who face Zimbabwe in their next fixture at the same venue on Monday, against the bowling of Muralitharan who took 2-25.

SRI LANKA innings
M. Jayawardene c N. McCullum b Southee    81
T. Dilshan b Oram    3
K. Sangakkara b Styris    4
D. Chandimal c Taylor b N. McCullum    29
C. Kapugedera c N. McCullum b Bond    11
A. Mathews c N. McCullum b Bond    3
S. Jayasuriya  not out    0
Extras: (lb-3, w-1)    4 
Total: (6 wkts, 20 overs)    135
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-44, 3-103, 4-124, 5-135, 6-135.
Bowling: N. McCullum 3-0-17-1, Bond 4-0-35-2, Southee 4-0-21-1, Oram 3-0-23-1, Vettori 4-0-23-0, Styris 2-0-13-1.
NEW ZEALAND innings
B. McCullum c Malinga b Mathews    0
J. Ryder b Muralitharan    42
M. Guptill b Jayasuriya    19
R. Taylor c Mathews b Muralitharan    9
S. Styris b Mendis     17
D. Vettori run-out    17
J. Oram  b Welegedara    15
G. Hopkins run-out    1
N. McCullum not out    16
T. Southee not out    0
Extras: (b-2, w-1)    3     
Total: (8 wkts, 19.5 overs)    139
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-62, 3-66, 4-86, 5-96, 6-116, 7-117, 8-133. 
Bowling: Mathews 2-1-7-1, Welegedara 2-0-21-1, Mendis 4-0-34-1, Malinga 3.5-0-33-0, Muralitharan 4-0-25-2, Jayasuriya 4-0-17-1.
Points: New Zealand 2, Sri Lanka 0.