ICC Champions Trophy: 5 memorable encounters in the history of the tournament, Part 2

#3 New Zealand vs Sri Lanka (Cardiff, 2013)

Kane Williamson in action against Sri Lanka

A rare modern-day ODI dominated by the ball, this was perhaps the match of the tournament. Sri Lanka batted first, but New Zealand seemed on a wicket-taking spree. They left their opponents fumbling at 82/6 after the half way stage. Kyle Mills struck with the first ball, and his partners Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum and Daniel Vettori followed suit in wrecking Sri Lanka.

Then came the highest partnership of the match – surprisingly, only 36. Kumar Sangakkara perished while accelerating and top scored with 68. McClenaghan bagged 4/43 and Sri Lanka were skittled out for a meagre 138.

In the chase, New Zealand themselves collapsed from 48/1 to 80/6. Martin Guptill quickly scored 25 but Shaminda Eranga and the deadly Lasith Malinga, to go with spinners Rangana Herath and Tillakaratne Dilshan, blew away the New Zealand batting. Brendon and Nathan McCullum showed some composure.

But when Malinga brought his spot-on yorkers into play, both were trapped, with New Zealand eight down and 17 away from the target. Malinga ended his quota of overs with 4/34, but the part time spin of Dilshan eased things for New Zealand. Mills was run out with 5 to get – 134/9 – but Tim Southee and McClenaghan guided them to a nervy one-wicket win.