30 Mar 2011

Black Caps out of World Cup

6:24 pm on 30 March 2011

New Zealand is out of cricket's World Cup, after losing to Sri Lanka by five wickets in a low-scoring semi-final in Colombo on Tuesday.

After the Black Caps were dismissed for 217 in the 49th over, Sri Lanka reached 220-5 with two overs to spare - but not before some anxious moments.

Black Caps skipper Daniel Vettori won the toss and the top order got through to 161-3 in the 39th over before Ross Taylor's dismissal for 36 triggered a collapse.

Top-scorers were Scott Styris (57) and Martin Guptill (39).

Sri Lanka were making light of their run chase at 160-1 but then lost four wickets for 25 runs.

After a shaky few overs, however, the 1996 champions reached their target with 13 balls to spare, anchored by top-scorer Tillakaratne Dilshan (73) and man-of-the-match Kumar Sangakkara, who took three catches before scoring 54.

India play Pakistan in the other semi-final in the tiny town of Mohali on Wednesday. The final will be played in Mumbai on Saturday.