BLOEMFONTEIN: New Zealand's hopes of making a splash in this year's World Cup suffered a major setback this morning when they crashed to an emphatic 47-run loss against Sri Lanka.
The side who had hoped to make a successful start to the tournament to make up fortheir forfeited points against Kenya, now need to beat the West Indies on Thursday and South Africa on Sunday to qualify for the second-round SuperSix series.
Possibly the most galling aspect of the loss for New Zealand was the fact they contributed to their own downfall, initially leaving out spinner Daniel Vettori, and then opting to field, rather than bat first.
As it happened, Sanath Jayasuryia smashed 120 off 125 balls to set the scene for his side, sharing in a 170-stand for the second wicket with Hashan Tillekaratne as Sri Lanka eventually amassed 272, after earlier threatening 300 or more.
New Zealand could not have made a more disastrous start to the chase, losing Fleming, Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan in quick succession, until Scott Styris and Chris Cairns steadied the ship with a 78-run stand for fourth wicket.
Styris went on to post his maiden ODI century and stretched it out to 141 (off 125 balls) before eventually leaving in the 47th over.
The decision to leave out Vettori almost certainly damaged the side's chances, as the pitch kept slow and turned more as the day progressed, prompting Jayasuryia to use his full compliment of spinners.
As it happened, they were more successful than anyone else, taking seven of the nine wickets that fell to bowlers, and drying up New Zealand's run-rate through the middle-stages.
Jayasuryia said afterwards that he would have 'definitely' batted first if he'd won the toss.
