Jayawardene, Murali pilot Sri Lanka into cricket World Cup final

Kingston, Jamaica, Apr 25 (UNI) Skipper Mahela Jayawardene hit a brilliant unbeaten 109-ball 115 and spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan (4 for 31) ripped through opposition batting lineup as Sri Lanka thrashed New Zealand by 81 runs to storm into the final of the cricket World Cup in majestic style at Sabina Park here.

Batting first, Sri Lanka made 289 for five and in reply New Zealand were all out for 208 in 41.4 overs.

For New Zealand, the semi-final jinxed continued and they once again failed for the fifth time to make it to the final while for Sri Lanka it is their second foray into the final, having earlier won it in 1996 at Lahore against Australia.

This was also Sri Lanka's second successive emphatic win over the Kiwis in this World Cup. The Lions had routed them by five wickets in the Super Eight league.

It was a lost battle for the Kiwis once the Lankans set them a tough target of 290 to chase and given their batting and Lion's bowling, it turned out to be a one-sided contest.

Everything went right for Sri Lanka and skipper Mahela Jayawardene. He won the toss when it mattered most and then led his side from the front with a blistering undefeated ton and his top order clicked and knocked the stuffing out of the opposition bowling.

The Kiwis once again failed to click in a crunch match. After conceding 289 runs, their batsmen, barring opener Peter Fulton, looked tentative from the very start and skipper Stephen Fleming failed to emulate his counterpart as he returned to the pavilion in just under two overs.

The Kiwi batsmen had a hard time against Lasith Malinga and Chaminda Vaas. It was Malinga who earned the first breakthrough getting rid of rival skipper whom he trapped leg before. Vaas then struck to get rid of Ross Taylor (9) but after that Fulton and Scott Styris came together to halt the slide and they put on 73 runs for the third wicket raising hopes of a fight back that was not to be.

Styris, who was batting well, in sudden rush of blood tried to hit out Dilshan but miscued his shot and was caught by Jayawardene at short mid wicket. He scored 37 (35 balls, 3x6, 2x4) and the Kiwis were 105 for 3 in 21.5 overs at that stage.

Then suddenly, there was a bizarre and inexplicable batting collapse as the Kiwis lost five wickets for just 11 runs in a space of 24 balls and from 105 for 2 they slumped to 116 for 7 and the man responsible for this downfall was none other than spin wizard Muralitharan who got rid of Jacob Oram (3), Brendon McCullam (0) and Daniel Vettori (0) in quick succession.

A 28-run partnership between Craig McMillian and James Franklin and then a 58-run last wicket stand between Franklin (30 not out, 38 balls, 2x4) and Jeetan Patel 34 (38 balls, 2x4, 1x6) saw the Kiwis cross the 200 mark but that was all they could do on a day which certainly did not belong to them.

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