Muralitharan & Upashantha bowl Sri Lanka to victory

NAPIER, JAN. 31. Eric Upashantha and offspinner Muttiah Muralitharan took nine wickets between them to lead Sri Lanka to a 61-run win over New Zealand in the first of five limited-overs cricket matches here on Wednesday.

New Zealand, chasing 214 to win at McLean Park, could only muster 152, its second lowest completed innings against Sri Lanka.

New Zealand's batting lineup had no answer to the accurate spin bowling of Muralitharan, who took five wickets - his fifth in one-dayers - when he bowled Chris Martin for a duck to end the innings in the 43rd over. Muralitharan took man-of-the-match honours with his five for 30 off 7.5 overs.

Upashantha recorded career-best figures of four for 37. Needing to score at 4.26 runs per over to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of- five series, only some dogged resistance from Chris Harris carried New Zealand past the 116 it scored at Moratuwa, New Zealand in 1983-84, its lowest score in 40 previous matches. Harris was unbeaten on 39 off 78 balls. New Zealand has only one victory to show from its last nine limited-overs matches - the win came against Zimbabwe in Wellington earlier this month, although it went on to lose that series 2-1.

The second match will be played on Saturday in Wellington.

- AP.

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Section  : Sport
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