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Dec 26, 2004
By Dale Budge at Eden Park

The Black Caps crushed Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the first one-dayer in Auckland on Boxing Day to take a 1-0 series lead as both teams head to Napier.

After winning the toss and bowling, the Black Caps reduced Sri Lanka to 141 all out - Chris Cairns (33-4) and Daryl Tuffey (17-2) the main destroyers.

The home side cruised to the target, thanks largely to an unbeaten 77 from captain Stephen Fleming, to win with 17 overs remaining.

Having bowled Sri Lanka out in just 42 overs, the Black Caps opener had to go out and bat for five overs before the scheduled lunch break.

Nathan Astle survived a confident leg before shout in the opening over before smashing Chaminda Vaas to the cover boundary.

But a couple of balls later he was given out lbw to Vaas for six.

Mathew Sinclair joined Fleming at the crease, hitting two fours before the players took lunch.

Fleming came out of the sheds in an aggressive mood, swinging wildly across the line at two deliveries that only just squeezed past his stumps.

But he soon found the middle of the bat and hit Farveez Maharoof for consecutive boundaries.

From there, the Black Caps looked comfortable, collecting runs around the four-an-over mark and cruising towards the target of 142.

The only thing that appeared to be able to stop a series opening victory was the rain that had been forecast in the Auckland region - though even that was predicted as an interference more than game threatening.

Keen to push the score along quickly in case rain became a factor, Sinclair attacked Upul Chandana's off-spin, who had been introduced into the attack.

He drove hard at a full delivery and Chandana took a diving return catch to dismiss Sinclair for 31.

Fleming, who had been joined by Scott Styris, upped the ante again, making sure that if weather played a part, the Black Caps would be well ahead of any sort of trouble.

He hit Sanath Jayasuriya for a four and then a six over mid-on from the first two balls from the little left-arm spinner.

Styris was adjudged run-out by the video replay after Fleming sent him back on a miss-field.

He departed for 12.

Fleming brought up his half century in the next over, his 38th 50 in ODIs, in 67 balls.

From there he put the foot down, hitting Maharoof for two fours and a six off consecutive deliveries.

The Black Caps skipper was left not out 77 and Hamish Marshall not out 14 as the Sri Lankans modest total was overhauled in the 33rd over.

On the comeback

It seems a long time since Tuffey last opened the bowling for New Zealand in a one-dayer but those of us who can cast our memories back that far may well remember his uncanny ability to take a wicket in the first over of a match.

He did just that in the opening over again at his Eden Park comeback match, trapping Saman Jayantha in front for no score on the third ball of the match.

The big right-armer struck a few overs later when he had the Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu caught at the wicket by Brendon McCullum for four.

At 17-2 things were not looking particularly bright for the Sri Lankans but when Kumar Sangakkara edged Kyle Mills to McCullum for one and the tourists fell into serious trouble.

The visitors' batsmen had looked rather under done on Sunday morning and maybe that had something to do with their poor build-up. Both tour games against Central Districts and Northern Districts had been washed out without the Sri Lankans spending a great deal of time in the middle and losing the toss on a green wicket in Auckland probably didn't help either.

Through all of the turmoil at the other end Jaysuriya, who has often been the thorn in the Black Caps chances, was able to tough it out - though he was lucky at times - twice finding thick outside edges narrowly sail past catchers.

Once Tuffey had completed his first spell back in international cricket - six overs two for 16 - Jacob Oram was brought into the attack from the Dominion Rd End.

He found immediate success having Mahela Jaywardene caught by Sinclair at gully for two.

Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan were able to see Mills finish his spell of eight overs before the introduction of Cairns.

The aggressive Kiwi all-rounder took a nasty fall in his delivery stride in his opening over. It looked very awkward and the 20,350-strong Eden Park crowd sat silenced for a few moments as he got to his feet.

Thankfully the fall may have looked worse than it was and he was able to continue bowling.

The Sri Lankans became a great deal more confident with Cairns and Oram operating as the ball got a little older and they slowly started to grow in confidence.

Jaysuriya began to be more aggressive, dancing down the wicket twice in one Cairns over and hitting him to the long-off boundary and then straight over the straight boundary for six.

But he went once too often and top-edged Cairns to Marshall at point for 43 just as he became a concern for the Black Caps.

More disappointing for the Sri Lankans would have been the fact that his partnership with Dilshan was beginning to flourish.

The 100 eventually came up in the 31st over but with their five top batsmen back in the hut it was unlikely that they would get close to 200.

Just as another partnership was forming, Chandana was run out in an unfortunate manner.

Dilshan drove the ball back to the bowler and Tuffey got a finger on the ball as it hit the stumps ending the partnership at 44 and sending Chandana to the changing rooms for 20.

Vaas didn't last long, bowled by Cairns in the next over for no score. The all-rounder had Maharoof caught at slip by Fleming in his next over for two and had his fourth wicket of the day when the defiant Dilshan picked out a diving Fleming at slip when he was on 48.

It was a stunning catch from Fleming who plucked it out of the air in his left hand as the ball flew between keeper McCullum and himself.

The innings ended when Ian Butler, who was fielding for Mills, ran out Dilhara Fernando at the non-strikers end when he was backing up too far.