8.30am - by MARK GEENTY
BLOEMFONTEIN - New Zealand cricket captain Stephen Fleming admits his side blundered tactically at the worst time today as their World Cup dream began to drift away.
Despite a masterful 141 off 125 balls from Scott Styris, New Zealand were outplayed by Sri Lanka to lose their
opening match by 47 runs at Goodyear Park here.
Sri Lanka were sent in to bat and responded with 272 for seven thanks to Sanath Jayasuriya's man-of-the-match 120. In reply the Black Caps perished for 225 in the 46th over.
It left them with a task of beating both the West Indies on Thursday then South Africa on Sunday to progress to the Super Six phase.
While it was a jittery, nervous start by New Zealand, their cause wasn't helped by misreading the pitch and omitting spinner Daniel Vettori in favour of four pace bowlers.
"We hoped there'd be a little bit more pace in the wicket, and watching the Sri Lankans in Australia we thought we could expose them with pace and bounce," Fleming explained.
"But after the first five overs, even the first over and a half, you get a feeling how slow the wicket's going to be.
"It clearly wasn't going to suit our tactics for the day.
"There were nerves, it was a pretty big day. You need to control them and I don't think we did it that well in both innings."
Regardless, New Zealand's run chase was a poor one and 273 was a gettable target.
Nathan Astle hit the ball just to Chaminda Vaas' left and went for a suicidal single in the first over, Fleming edged a simple caught behind and Craig McMillan did the same after a false drive.
From 15 for three it seemed all over but Styris showed how simple it could be on a pitch offering few demons.
He was content to milk the singles and added 78 with Chris Cairns before Cairns crucially hit a return catch to Aravinda De Silva on 32.
Styris marched on, reaching 50 off 55 balls with just one four, passing his highest score of 85 against the West Indies then reaching three figures off 104 balls.
The middle order though came and went and Styris ran out of support with 97 required off the last 10 overs. He unleashed on Muttiah Muralitharan, slamming him over mid-wicket off consecutive balls and hitting three fours and six sixes in all before he was last out to a boundary catch.
New Zealand's bowling was largely awry, with Shane Bond, Jacob Oram and Astle -- who took three late wickets for 34 -- the only ones to emerge with credit.
Bond began well with some sharp early overs, removing opener Marvan Atapattu for six, but then it all went wrong.
Daryl Tuffey and Andre Adams were hammered as Jayasuriya reached 50 off 45 balls, including boundaries off Adams' first three balls. Jayasuriya added 170 off 182 balls for the second wicket with Hashan Tillakaratne.
The turning point of the match though came with Jayasuriya on 18 when Tuffey was adamant he had him caught behind, but England umpire and former Otago paceman Neil Mallender disagreed. Television replays showed it was a bad call.
The Sri Lankan skipper defied painful cramps to reach 120 off 125 balls including 14 fours before Astle broke the partnership. He also had further let-offs on 86 and 93 when gloveman Lou Vincent missed close catches off Astle.
Oram applied the brakes with the score heading towards 300, and Tillakaratne was unbeaten on 81 at the end.
New Zealand head to Port Elizabeth tomorrow to face an in-form West Indies and there is certain to be stern words in the camp.
"It won't demoralise us but we're extremely disappointed. We've built up a long time for this game and we would have loved to win it," Fleming said.
- NZPA
World Cup schedule
Points table
8.30am - by MARK GEENTY
BLOEMFONTEIN - New Zealand cricket captain Stephen Fleming admits his side blundered tactically at the worst time today as their World Cup dream began to drift away.
Despite a masterful 141 off 125 balls from Scott Styris, New Zealand were outplayed by Sri Lanka to lose their
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