New Zealand 172 for 5 (Conway 45, Mitchell 43, Mathews 2-29) beat Sri Lanka 171 (Perera 51, Boult 3-37, Ravindra 2-21) by six wickets

New Zealand all but by the most improbable of mathematical possibilities locked in their place in the World Cup semi-final with a dominant five-wicket win – with 160 balls left – against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru. The result means they move to ten points, and a net run rate (NRR) of 0.743. That essentially means Pakistan need to beat England by 287 runs, while Afghanistan need an even more fantastical 438-run win over South Africa if they are to surpass New Zealand’s NRR.

If Pakistan happen to chase, this becomes even more unlikely a possibility, as they would need to chase a hypothetical target of 150 in 3.4 overs.

As for Sri Lanka, the margin of the defeat to New Zealand has left them languishing at ninth position on the table, thus out of the qualification spots for the 2025 Champions Trophy. They now require one of England or Bangladesh to suffer significant-enough defeats – while Netherlands would also need to lose to India – so that their respective NRRs drop below that of Sri Lanka’s.

New Zealand’s win was the product of an all-round performance with bat and ball. While the threat of rain in Bengaluru ultimately proved to be a red herring, winning the toss and putting Sri Lanka in seemed to be the most prudent way to ensure both an NRR-boosting victory as well as to serve as a hedge against any rain interruptions and DLS interventions.

On a surface that proved even better to bat on under lights, Ravindra and Conway put on 86 to break open the chase, before Mitchell’s rapid 43 off just 31 balls rammed home the result. All three would fall before the finish, but the win was never in doubt.

Such was New Zealand’s dominance that they could afford three dropped catches in the field – ones which would even prove costly in terms of runs scored – but still canter to victory.

But even as wickets fell at one end, Perera functioned as a one-man army, finding boundaries all around the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and punishing New Zealand for that early drop. Two picked-up sixes over long-on off Tim Southee were the highlights of some belligerent ball striking, as he brought up his 50 off just 22 deliveries – the joint second-fastest by a Sri Lankan in ODI World Cups – and the fastest ever in ODIs by an opener while batting first.

Perera also reached the milestone off the third ball of the eighth over, making it the earliest a batter has reached fifty in the first innings of a men’s World Cup match.

An over later, though, Charith Asalanka joined the procession of batters heading back to the dressing room, as he was adjudged lbw off Boult upon a well-taken review, before Perera himself fell a few deliveries later, getting under a not-quite-full-enough-to drive delivery from Ferguson, and slicing it straight up in the air to cover.

Sri Lanka were in free fall at 70 for 5 at that point, midway through the tenth over, before Angelo Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva put up some mild resistance. Dhananjaya was reprieved too, courtesy Latham dropping his second of the game, a tough chance off Santner, during that stand of 34. Santner’s guile, control and subtle variations in pace, however, would eventually prove too much for the pair.

Mathews would be the first to go in what might have been his last ever World Cup innings – perhaps even ODI innings – lunging forward at one that was floated up but dipping. He failed to get to the pitch, and the bounce and turn did the rest, grazing the outside edge before finding its way to Mitchell at slip. It was a similar story for Dhananjaya, after another lovely flighted delivery with some added bounce found its way into Mitchell’s coffers via the outside edge.

In a knock that would encompass 91 deliveries, Theekshana alone comfortably surpassed the deliveries faced by all of Sri Lanka’s frontline batters combined. Even Madushanka’s 48 balls was more than any other batter bar Theekshana.

This would also serve to showcase the nature of how true a batting surface it was, despite there perhaps being more turn than expected; indeed, rarely were Sri Lanka’s tailenders unduly troubled in their prolonged stays at the crease. Also, of all the dropped catches in the innings, it would be Theekshana’s – a sharp return chance spilled by Boult – that would seemingly prove the costliest.

He remained unbeaten on 38 – the second-highest scorer of the innings – as the ninth and tenth wicket stands, despite only accounting for 58 runs combined, would play out a whopping 139 deliveries. Sri Lanka lost their eighth wicket in the 24th over, but it wouldn’t be until the 47th that New Zealand would grab the last, with Ravindra finding Madushanka’s edge for Latham to complete a sharp take.

New Zealand would have been grateful that the rains didn’t enter the fray to make them pay for such a prolonged inability to mop up the tail, but in the end it was all smiles with yet another World Cup semi-final all but secured.