Tempers frayed at the Wankhede Stadium as Nathan McCullum was denied a stunning return catch off Mahela Jayawardene to leave the match evenly poised at 100 for 2.In the 24th over, Jayawardene chipped a return catch to McCullum's right and the bowler dived full-length to scoop the ball centimetres from the turf. The batsman, however stood his ground and the on-field umpires, Asad Rauf and Richard Kettleborough, opted to go upstairs. The side-on replay seemed to clearly show McCullum's fingers under the ball but a front-on shot, as it so often does, created doubt. Amiesh Saheba decided in favour of Jayawardene and New Zealand were denied a key wicket.
Sri Lanka's best and most experienced batting pair, Kumar Sangakkara and Jayawardene, were left to continue their rallying job after a sketchy start to the Sri Lanka innings. With the qualifiers already settled in Group A, the match will instead decide which of the teams will finish in the top two. New Zealand, as is their rule for World Cups, have exceeded expectations so far in this tournament and with an injury-depleted attack kept Sri Lanka pinned down for 25 overs.
Tim Southee has had a good World Cup so far and was finding zip and movement off the track early on to trouble Tillakaratne Dilshan. If Southee was unlucky not to find the edge early on, he was more than compensated when Dilshan scorched back a drive in his direction only for Southee to deflect it onto the stumps at the non-striker's end. Coming off the back of a century against Zimbabwe, Upal Tharanga was the highest scorer in Group A but was cruelly short of his ground.
Southee soon struck again, more conventionally this time to remove Dilshan. Belying his reputation as a top-order dasher, Dilshan was restricted by Southee's nip and the accuracy of Jacob Oram. Eventually the pressure told and Dilshan top-edged a pull shot down to Oram at third man for a 15-ball 3.
At 19 for 2 it was left, as ever it seems, to the serene third-wicket pair to ensure Sri Lanka's soft middle order was not exposed too early. With temperatures searing in the afternoon heat, Ross Taylor, captaining the side in place of the injured Vettori, had to rotate his bowlers regularly and both Sangakkara and Jayawardene were content to sit in.
The flowing elegance both possess was unfurled only sparingly, with Sangakkara driving the energetic Hamish Bennett through the off side for the best of his six fours. Sangakkara eased towards another fifty and passed 9000 ODI runs, and again looks set to end his wait for an ODI century that stretches back to June 2008.
Jayawardene was more bogged down but celebrated his McCullum reprieve by swatting a sweep for four three balls later to leave the bowler fuming.
