A cliché that has grown hands and legs in the past decade or more and become very popular among cricketers and coaches is “control the controllables”.
As they get set to face Sri Lanka at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday, New Zealand will hope that nothing that is beyond their control plays a role in keeping them on the hinges to make it to the semifinals of the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup.
Let alone the time they spend on practice before the game. Let alone the surface they play on. Let alone the crowd that will turn up for the match. New Zealand’s biggest concern will be cricket’s biggest uncontrollable – rain. As per the Accuweather website, there is a 54 per cent chance of thunderstorms both in the morning and in the evening on Thursday.
Follow all the action from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 including the World Cup schedule, World Cup 2023 results, and ICC Cricket World Cup points table. Players are vying to top the World Cup 2023 Most Runs and World Cup 2023 Most Wickets charts.
As New Zealand found out on Saturday, Rachin Ravindra has kept his sensational form intact. Kane Williamson did not look like he had not played for 21 days and made 95 runs. The Blackcaps got 401 for 6 on the board- a total that would win most teams most matches on most days. But it did not on Saturday, thanks to Fakhar Zaman’s six-hitting storm and then the persistent rain which led to New Zealand gaining nothing from the match.
The result also means the Kiwis have to gain everything they can when they face a Sri Lankan side, that is out of contention for qualifying to the semifinals but won a game in impressive fashion against England on this ground in October.
Since winning that match, though, their form has dipped with three losses on the trot to Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh that have knocked them out of contention for a place in the semifinals.
The one huge positive for them has been the form of left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka, who is currently the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 21 scalps in eight matches and will have a huge role to play on Thursday.
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An uncontrollable factor apart from the rain on Thursday will be the toss. It is a no-brainer what either team would do when they the flip of the coin goes their way. Fielding first would be and should be the way to go.
Thursday also marks the start of a series of must-win matches for not just teams like New Zealand, but for Afghanistan, who face South Africa in Ahmedabad on Friday, and Pakistan who play England in Kolkata on Saturday, as well. The Blackcaps will hope they can “control the controllable” and get their two points on Thursday.
What: New Zealand vs Sri Lanka, Match 41, ICC ODI World Cup 2023.
When: November 9, 2023, 2:00 pm IST.
Where: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
New Zealand
The New Zealand batting and bowling have been at the opposite ends of the spectrum in the past few matches. While the batting has aced many a test, the bowling has not been penetrative enough to cause early dents in the opposition. For them to win on Thursday, both those departments and the fielding must come together if the Blackcaps hope to claim all three points.
Kyle Jamieson had a long bowling stint at the nets on Wednesday, indicating that perhaps he had a chance to feature in the crunch clash on Thursday.
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Likely playing XI: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson (C) Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson
Sri Lanka
It’s difficult to believe these days that there was a time when Sri Lanka consistently made to the knockout stages of the tournament. As things stand, their last appearance in a knockout match of a major tournament was in 2015, when they played quarterfinals of the ODI World Cup. They would hope this is the last big event where they fail to make it to the knockouts, in the upcoming years.
Likely playing XI: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (c & wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka.
WHAT THEY SAID
“Yeah, I mean he balances out our attack nicely and made some really valuable contributions in the tournament so far and brings a bit of experience as well. So, naturally comes in and bowls with that high pace and it complements our new ball bowlers. So, yeah, we’ll have to have a look at the surface and decide on our balance,”- Kane Williamson on Lockie Ferguson’s chances of playing on Thursday.
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“Well, it’s disappointing. Like I said before, we had issues in our bowling department and due to injuries mainly, we had Dushmantha Chameera coming in late because of his rehabilitation program, which he was not ready by the time we were taking off for the World Cup. And as well as Lahiru [Kumara], Madhushanka, his rehabilitation was also [delayed] and he was only ready after playing the two training games,”- Sri Lanka assistant coach Naveed Nawaz on the lack of fast bowling support for Madushanka
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