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Ajantha Mendis led Sri Lanka to a 48 run victory over New Zealand to march into the semi-finals topping their group. The Kiwis were defenceless against the Lankan spinners as they lost 6 wickets in 17 runs to crash out of the Championship. In the semi-finals, Sri Lanka will meet West Indies.

With the average first innings total in a T20 international being 150 at Trent Bridge Oval, Sri Lanka’s total of 158 was never going to be an imposing one, though not easy either. Skipper Sangakkara knew the match had to be won by bowling better and he found his answers in his spinning department. Mendis, Muralitharan, Jayasuriya and Dilshan didn’t disappoint either as they picked up 6 wickets between them for 63 runs. New Zealand were cruising along 93 for 4 in the 13th over when the Lankan spinners sprang into action to wrap New Zealand for 110 runs within the 17th over. Mendis was the pick of them, capturing 3 wickets for only 9 runs to earn a Bowling Efficiency (BE) of 200 and deservedly won the “Man of the Match” award. The Lankans were also electric in the field effecting two run-outs.

Earlier, Dilshan and Sangakkara built a partnership of 62 runs in 52 balls to accelerate the Batting Momentum (BM) of Sri Lanka. Dilshan (48 runs from 37 balls, BM of 62) has been a prolific run-scorer for the Lankans and became the first batsman to cross the 200 run mark in the tournament. Mahela Jayawardene (41 runs from 29 balls, a BM of 58) batted elegantly to provide Sri Lanka 49 runs in the last 5 overs.