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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outMS Dhoni marked his return from injury by taking six catches•Getty Images

A magnificent display of fast bowling from Zaheer Khan, coupled with a spineless batting performance by the home team, put India well on course to a series-clinching victory after just two days of the Wellington Test. New Zealand needed a strong batting display to stay in the series, but the technique and temperament of their top order was exposed thoroughly yet again, as they folded meekly in 65 overs for 197. Though India lost Virender Sehwag early, that was the only negative in the day, which they finished 233 in front, with nine wickets in hand.Both teams could lay claims to taking the honours on the opening day, but today belonged quite emphatically to the visitors. Zaheer was the architect, knocking the stuffing out of the New Zealand top order by taking the first four wickets. Ross Taylor was the only batsman who stood firm, scoring a classy and unblemished 42, but none of the other batsmen looked the part.New Zealand needed just 13 deliveries to clean up India’s last wicket, but that was as good as it got for them. Ishant Sharma struggled while bowling against the wind, but Zaheer was relentless from the first ball. He charged in, found the perfect length and some swing, mixed in the short deliveries smartly, and changed his line of attack to keep the batsmen guessing. Operating mostly from a short run-up, he seemed to bowl within himself and yet worked up brisk pace.He started the New Zealand slide, switching to round the stumps to get rid of Martin Guptill, who was judging Zaheer’s over-the-wicket offerings to a nicety. But when the angle changed, Guptill tried to stand tall to defend a short one angled into him, and could only get an inside-edge onto his stumps. Daniel Flynn, back in the team for Jamie How, offered no resistance, lasting only eight deliveries before nicking a perfect delivery that pitched in the corridor and seamed away.Zaheer’s first spell read 8-2-18-2, and after a brief break, which included the lunch interval, he was back to wreck more havoc. Tim McIntosh had somehow made his way to 32 without ever being convincing – stiff and upright, he was often late on his shots and played-and-missed on several occasions – before Zaheer ended his misery with the short one. McIntosh was in two minds and in the end limply hung his bat, edging to Yuvraj Singh, who finally took a catch in the slip cordon.That brought together Taylor and Jesse Ryder, easily New Zealand’s best batsmen, but Ryder looked unsettled from the start. He was troubled by Harbhajan’s drift and turn, before attempting a stroke that will make him cringe when he sees the replay: Zaheer tempted him with a short and wide ball, so wide that Ryder had to stretch out to reach it, and all he managed was the toe end of the bat.Zaheer Khan was outstanding with the new ball, and took the first four New Zealand wickets to fall on the second day•Getty Images

Through all the limp batting at one end, Taylor’s approach suggested he was playing on another surface, against another attack. From ball one, he was precise with his footwork and assured in judgment, playing close to his body, with the full face of the bat, and scarcely looking in any discomfort. He started his innings with a superb straight-drive for four off Zaheer, and played several more strokes that stood out. When India had a stranglehold over proceedings in a period before lunch when seven overs fetched seven runs, Taylor broke the shackles with a classy cover-drive off the accurate Munaf Patel. After lunch, he played the shot of the innings: there was hardly anything wrong with Zaheer’s delivery, which was on a good length just outside off, but Taylor was still good enough to effortlessly ease it through cover-point with a small shuffle, short back-lift and outstanding timing.It was an innings that deserved to go much further, but was unfortunately cut short when umpire Daryl Harper upheld an appeal for a catch down the leg side. Replays suggested there was no contact between bat and ball, but Taylor didn’t question the decision, walking off as soon as the finger went up.Zaheer was the architect of the New Zealand collapse, but Harbhajan bowled superbly and deserved his success. Bowling at a slower pace than he normally does, he got the ball to drift, grip, and spin in an unchanged spell that began just before lunch and didn’t end till the New Zealand innings was wrapped up. James Franklin, who continues to bat above Brendon McCullum for reasons unknown, was his second victim, sweeping tamely to square leg, while McCullum, who was left to play with the tail for much of his innings, edged a cut to MS Dhoni, who marked his return to the team with six catches, a record for an Indian wicketkeeper. That the loudest cheers from New Zealand supporters probably came when Chris Martin – who had scored two runs in his 11 previous Test innings – lofted Harbhajan straight down the ground for four summed up the kind of day they had. The Indians, who are eyeing their 100th Test win, won’t be complaining.

Ireland allrounder Kevin O’Brien could be part of Nottinghamshire’s Twenty20 Cup campaign after agreeing to move to Trent Bridge on a long-term trial.O’Brien is likely to feature against Notts Outlaws on Saturday in the Friends Provident Trophy and will join up with Nottinghamshire once Ireland’s campaign in the competition comes to an end. He will be available for all Nottinghamshire matches whenever his international commitments allow.”If he [O’Brien] can develop his bowling, Kevin could become a very capable allrounder. His batting is already at a good level, and that innings against us [93 not out at Trent Bridge] certainly stuck in my mind over the winter. As it became clearer that we were likely to be without a few of our players this season because of England commitments, I kept on coming back to what he might be able to offer us.”Ireland have a lot of cricket to play over the next four months but we will fit in around those international commitments. It’s an open-ended trial and Kevin will be available to play in all our fixtures when he’s with us.”

Division Two

2nd dayEssex grasped the momentum against Kent at Chelmsford, bowling out the visitors for 205 and enforcing the follow-on. The hosts only added 40 to their overnight 330 for 7, and James Foster was an early victim, falling for 99, but Essex’s bowlers made quick inroads into a shaky Kent line-up. Chris Wright and David Masters helped reduce them to 96 for 6, before there was a late and much-needed salvage operation from Wayne Parnell, who carved 69 from 80 balls with two sixes and nine fours. However, Maurice Chambers and Danish Kaneria mopped up the rest to dismiss Kent for 205, and Wright then made an early inroad with the new ball in Kent’s second innings to leave them in a perilous position going into the third day.3rd dayAn intriguing final day is in store at Wantage Road tomorrow with Northamptonshire requiring 171 runs to beat Gloucestershire, but only have five wickets in hand. The visitors were very well placed at the start of the day, on 105 for 1 in their second innings, but crumbled to 237 all out. Hamish Marshall and Chris Taylor each made fifties but there was little else in support as David Lucas added three more wickets to end with 4 for 39. However, Northamptonshire also suffered from a batting wobble and were reduced to 102 for 5 chasing 371 before Andrew Hall (50*) and David Willey (43*) stiffened their resolve with an unbeaten sixth-wicket stand of 98. The match is wide open with one day to go.Middlesex were able to enforce the follow-on against Leicestershire at Southgate but found the visitors harder to break down for a second time. Boeta Dippenaar led the defiance as he moved to 85, adding an unbroken 96 for the third wicket with fellow South Africa, HD Ackerman. Dippenaar had earlier put on 79 with Tom New after Matthew Boyce was trapped leg-before early on by Tim Murtagh. The Middlesex attack had done an efficient job of wrapping up Leicestershire’s first innings after Alan Richardson removed Josh Cobb for 60. James Taylor’s 69-ball nine was cut off by Murtagh and Dawid Malan’s part-time legspin claimed two lower-order scalps.There was no play between Glamorgan and Derbyshire at Cardiff due to rain.

Division One

2nd dayAdam Voges was the cornerstone of the Nottinghamshire batting with 95 as the battled hard to build a lead of over Lancashire at Old Trafford. Rain and bad light cut into the second day and for much of the time available it was closely-fought battle. Oliver Newby and Glen Chapple struck during the morning session to keep Lancashire in the game, but Voges began to take control. He lost Ali Brown for 21 before adding 67 with Chris Read and was approaching his century when, for the second time in a week, was cut-off short when Newby trapped him lbw. Graeme Swann bagged a duck and Lancashire had hopes of wrapping up the tail, but Read’s good form continued as he and Paul Franks batted through to the early close on 263 for 6.Rain washed out any chance of play at The Rose Bowl between Hampshire and Sussex.3rd dayFor a full report from the third day between Somerset and Durham at Taunton click here.For a full report from the third day between Yorkshire and Worcestershire at Headingley click here.

ScorecardA dank scene over Headingley and even when the sun came the problems didn’t stop•Getty Images

Stewart Regan, the Yorkshire chief executive, was forced to defend the club’s new drainage system after the first one-day international between England and West Indies at Headingley was abandoned shortly after 3pm, following torrential morning rain left the newly relayed outfield saturated. Umpires Nigel Llong and Steve Davis conducted several pitch inspections but although the weather itself improved, the outfield remained drenched. Regan, however, insisted the system would be working perfectly come the Ashes.”We are all very disappointed with the outcome today,” Regan said. “What you saw was a torrential downpour last night and another this morning and the water has that in the thatch of the grass and hasn’t drained away quickly enough.”We are confident it will be able to handle major downpours, that’s why we are investing in it and as it continues to bed in then of course it will improve. This is not about blaming but about trying to understand what has happened and recognising that this drainage system will improve and get better.”Rain had fallen overnight and hammered down again at about 9.30am for two hours, then just as the groundstaff had started to remove the covers, another burst swept over the ground. Puddles began forming on the outfield and some areas around the boundary resembled a swamp.By late afternoon the sun was shining, but the outfield remained unplayable. Those that remained from an 11,000-strong crowd made their frustrations known, but the England players did their part when they went out to sign autographs (as they did in Antigua when that Test was abandoned in February). However, the whole day raised serious questions about the timing of Yorkshire’s project to relay the outfield and hosting an international just seven weeks after completion.The club spent a £600,000 ECB grant on the new drainage over the winter, but the outfield hasn’t yet had a chance to properly bed down so that it can work at its optimum level. High standards are expected these days after the success of the Lord’s version which allows play very quickly even after torrential rain, such as occurred in the first Test against India in 2007.The project fell behind schedule and the turf was only laid at the beginning of April when the club had hoped to complete the work by March. “This sort of project doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time for it to bed in and we are all disappointed with how we have ended up,” Regan said.The delay in completing the work meant that the groundstaff haven’t been able to aerate the outfield and allow it to drain fully due to the risk of damaging the turf. The outfield was signed off by the ECB on April 30, mid-way through the Championship match against Worcestershire which was also hit by the weather, and Regan insisted that the ground had been ready to host an international and rejected calls that it should have been moved to another venue.”As of last night the weather was perfect, the outfield had been signed off and the forecast was good,” he said. “We were all happy with it and the ECB were happy with, we have just had some very unusual circumstances. We are very disappointed for the public and nobody likes upsetting spectators, but you can’t legislate for the rain. We live in a country that gets more than most.”We’ve played three major [county] matches here and they played perfectly well. The umpires were delighted and the pitch inspector from the ECB was delighted. I think the key issue here is that there were two torrential downpours and the water couldn’t drain away quick enough.”The ECB has given six counties the grants towards providing new drainage facilities in order that as much playing time as possible is saved, but that doesn’t mean that counties aren’t allowed to put extra funding in themselves.The club are spending £21million on a new pavilion at the Kirkstall Lane End which is largely funded by Leeds Metropolitan University, but that is also behind schedule and the ground will resemble a building site for the Ashes. It was due to be completed for the fourth Test in August, but now won’t be completed until 2010, while £500,000 has also been spent on a new replay screen. However, Regan said there wasn’t any more money to invest in a more advanced drainage system.”It’s very easy to say spend [an extra] £400,000, but that money simply doesn’t exist,” he said. “The £600,000 is deemed sufficient to put in a drainage system capable of doing the job and that’s what we’ve got. What we have here are unusual circumstances and torrential rain and any ground would have struggled to cope, apart from Lord’s.”This abandoned match means two of the Ashes venues have had serious issues with their playing surface recently. Last week, Glamorgan were docked points following a Friends Provident tie against Essex, after the Cardiff pitch was rated ‘poor’ for taking excessive turn.

New South Wales may be vying for Brendon McCullum’s services as well, but Otago have named him in their provisional squad for the Champions League. A 19-member squad for the tournament that takes place in India starting October 8 has been named, and will be trimmed to 15 in September.McCullum made a controversial appearance for New South Wales in the Australian domestic Twenty20 final in January so that he could qualify for the Blues. He is yet to confirm which team he will play for; if he is to play for New South Wales, the Australia state side will have pay Otago US$250,000.Otago Cricket Association chief executive Ross Dykes was confident McCullum would pick his home side. “As far as I’m concerned he is playing for us,” Dykes told the . “It is not something Brendon would need to confirm. He qualifies for Otago and he is mad keen to play.”There are six other players with international experience in the Otago squad: Nathan McCullum, Aaron Redmond, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Craig Cumming and England allrounder Dimitri Mascarenhas.Mike Hesson, the Otago coach, was happy with the experience and strength of his squad. “Outside of our international players we have a blend of experienced campaigners like Warren McSkimming and James McMillan, mixed with some exciting younger players in left-arm-spinner Nick Beard and attacking opening batsman Hamish Rutherford,” he said.Otago will start training for the Champions League at a camp in Dunedin in early September.Otago squad: 1 Neil Broom, 2 Nick Beard, 3 Derek de Boorder, 4 Anthony Bullick, 5 Ian Butler, 6 Craig Cumming, 7 Sean Eathorne, 8 Shaun Haig, 9 Mathew Harvie, 10 Dimitri Mascarenhas, 11 Brendon McCullum, 12 Nathan McCullum, 13 James McMillan, 14 Warren McSkimming, 15 Aaron Redmond, 16 Hamish Rutherford, 17 William Somerville, 18 Greg Todd,19 Neil Wagner

The English domestic game may not include 50-over cricket from next year after the ECB unveiled plans for a revamped county structure involving three competitions. The 16-match four-day Championship has been retained alongside an expanded Twenty20 tournament, but the format for the third competition has yet to be decided and could involve some radical new concepts including two-innings 40-over matches”The ECB feel there is a worldwide desire to find a way of reinvigorating and revitalising the 50 over game,” a statement said. “The game has experimented with power plays and super subs and now ECB, along with other countries, have decided to explore new options. Research tells ECB this is something the spectators and counties want to see happen. One option being considered is a 40-over concept with two innings per side with no limitations on bowlers.”The new structure will also mean an end to Test matches being staged in May after a series poorly attended series, including this year’s two-Test series against West Indies at Lord’s and Chester-le-Street. “We all recognise that there is little appetite for Test match cricket in early May and this structure allows us to play Tests in June, July and August,” Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, said.The three-tournament domestic structure had been expected, but not the potential scrapping of 50-over matches which is currently played under the Friends Provident Trophy banner. It creates the situation where England will continue to play one-day internationals but without a format to replicate that in the domestic game. It is often a criticism that England’s players are not well prepared for 50-over cricket. Now they will not be prepared at all, while those trying to force their way in won’t be able to impress in a competition that mirrors international cricket.”The ECB is committed to 50-over cricket at international level with a total of 13 ODIs against Bangladesh, Australia and Pakistan as well as an extended programme of England Lions 50-over games,” the statement added. “These matches, along with those played in Australia in the winter of 2010-11, will provide the practice required for the ICC World Cup in early 2011.”The ECB said this new tournament would revive the Sunday League which became a regular part of the fixture list during the 1970s, 80s and 90s and was popular with supporters as it guaranteed them weekend action.After suggestions that the Championship would be cut back to make way for more Twenty20 cricket the four-day tournament will remain intact, while Twenty20 – branded under the P20 name – will become two pools of nine teams split along north-south lines to retain the derby element.”We canvassed a wide range of opinion and everyone was behind the principle of the primacy of Test match and County Championship cricket,” Clarke said. “It is important that the County Championship structure is maintained to support the Test team.”We have also listened to the spectators and counties alike about the structure and the consensus was for Twenty20 cricket to be played in June and July with a final later in the season with the qualification matches primarily at weekends.”

Matt Mason has signed a one-year contract extension with Worcestershire, and will combine his playing role with that of bowling coach at the club.”I am absolutely thrilled to sign a contract for a further year. The plans the club has for the future excite me and I want to be part of that future,” Mason said.”I enjoy my part-time role as bowling coach but still feel I have much to offer as a player. The club has been very good to me and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”Steve Rhodes, director of cricket at Worcestershire, said: “Yet again Matt has proved to be one of our front-line bowlers this season and I am delighted he has agreed to carry on playing for at least another season while continuing to have such a valuable input with our young bowling attack in his coaching role.”The 35-year-old from Australia is Worcestershire’s leading wicket-taker in the Championship so far this season, with 29 to date.

Western Australia batsman Luke Pomersbach has been suspended from all pre-season training after he was charged with assault and drink-driving. Pomersbach was allegedly driving a car that was involved in a hit-and-run accident in the western Perth suburb of City Beach late on Sunday night.”The Western Australian Cricket Association has been made aware of a serious traffic incident involving Warriors batsman Luke Pomersbach last night in Perth’s western suburbs,” Western Australia’s chief executive officer Graeme Wood said. “The matter will be heard in the Perth Magistrates Court on Friday. Until then, Luke has been suspended from all pre-season training commitments with the Warriors.”No other Warriors player was involved in this incident. The WACA, along with the Australian Cricketers Association, will continue to provide the necessary support and welfare to Luke.”Pomersbach, 24, was charged with assaulting police while allegedly trying to escape custody after a traffic accident. Police claim that Pomersbach was driving under intoxication and crashed his car into the back of another.”He was spoken to by police and as he was being placed in the rear of a police sedan, he informed police that he did not want to accompany them and tried to leave,” police spokesman Greg Lambert said. “A struggle developed when police tried to restrain the man, during which a police officer was pushed backward into a window of the house, causing it to break. The man eventually managed to break free and ran away from the scene.”This is not the first time Pomersbach has been involved in off-field mishaps. In late 2007 he was suspended by his state after an alcohol-related incident. Earlier this year Pomersbach was suspended and fined a full Twenty20 match payment after he failed to show up for a club game.Pomersbach received a shock last-minute call-up to make his Twenty20 international debut for Australia in 2007 and went on to win the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year title in 2008. He has scored 1,570 runs at an average of 43.61 in 22 first-class matches for Western Australia.

On a sun-kissed afternoon in south London, a capacity Oval crowd and a rapturous nation celebrated with rare fervour as Andrew Strauss held aloft the Ashes urn for the first time as England captain. Twenty-five days later, on a frigid evening in Nottingham, the same man was booed by the few spectators who had bothered to remain at Trent Bridge for the closing stages of England’s sixth consecutive one-day defeat to Australia, this by an embarrassing 111-run margin. Even Ashes goodwill has its limits.Few sportsmen experience their career zenith and nadir inside a month, but such is Strauss’s lot at present. England’s turgid one-day form has ensured the euphoric memories of The Oval have been relegated to the deep recesses of the mind for now, and the heckling of Strauss at the post-match presentation at Trent Bridge demonstrated just how dramatically the nation’s mood had swung.In fairness, Strauss is the last England player deserving of spectator vitriol. Too often this series he has been the sole batsman to show backbone in an otherwise invertebrate England line-up, and his series record of 220 runs at 36.66 would make for even better reading were it not for the incorrect decisions levelled against him in the last two matches. Still, as the frontman of a team facing an unprecedented 7-0 series defeat, the slings and arrows were always going to fly in his direction. And Strauss was not shirking the issue on Tuesday.Disconsolate, grave and more than a little humiliated, Strauss stood upon the dais to a chorus of jeers and described his side’s batting capitulation as a “horror show.” The sugar-coating of the opening week of the campaign was over. Brutal truths were being addressed.”I can understand the frustration of the crowd,” Strauss continued at the post-match media conference. “It was a very poor performance tonight. Certainly, we were never in the hunt with the bat and we made a huge number of mistakes certainly with our batting performance. It’s been something that’s been building over the course of the six games we’ve played.”I’m not going to sit here and make any excuses. What we have shown so far in this series hasn’t been good enough, and far from it. As a group of players and as individuals we need to stand up and show some character now. It’s as simple as that.”It’s a very simple process. Sitting around in a team room having a chat about it is not going to solve anything. What is going to solve it is a couple of guys standing up and showing the necessary character to go out and turn things around. That’s the only way it can happen and our players have got to do it. It’s as simple as that.”Given the parlous state of England’s limited-overs game, it is difficult to envisage Strauss’s men making an impact at the Champions Trophy from next week. Meek batting, muddle-headed running between the wickets and indisciplined fielding have all contributed to England’s depressing decline against an Australian side soundly defeated by South Africa earlier this year.Redemption is clearly out of the question, however there remains one last chance for England to restore a modicum of limited-overs pride ahead of their departure for South Africa on Monday. Staving off an historic whitewash by a driven Australian side at Chester-le-Street would be a worthy effort in the circumstances, and one Strauss has yet to give up on.”Six-nil is bad enough to be honest with you,” he said. “We’ve got one more opportunity to show our calibre as a side. We need to take that opportunity.”This has been damaging for the one-day unit because confidence has become increasingly frail. That takes some getting from. It’s not impossible to get back from it. I remember in Australia in 2006-07 we were in a similar state and Paul Collingwood got a couple of hundreds and things turned around.”I don’t think it affects our Test prospects particularly. I’ve been around plenty of the times when the one-day team hasn’t performed well and the Test team has performed very well and adequately. It’s important to compartmentalise this, but in this one-day compartment no one likes to be losing six games in a row. The simple fact of the matter is we need to improve and we need to do it quickly.”If nothing else, England’s embattled limited-overs players can take heart from the fact that their leader is not set to abandon them anytime in the near future. Despite his descent from Test conqueror to one-day pariah, Strauss reaffirmed his desire to continue captaining England’s 50-over side irrespective of whether the role might tarnish his over all legacy.”If anything it makes me more determined to make a very, very strong effort to turn things around,” he said. “I’m more motivated by that than ever right at the moment.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Martin Guptill’s 66 proved crucial in New Zealand’s total•Getty Images

New Zealand turned up at the Wanderers needing a win to stay alive in the ICC Champions Trophy, and at the end of an intriguing match it was Sri Lanka who found themselves on the verge of flying home in disappointment. Defending an impressive 315, which was set up by a century opening stand and a muscular finish, New Zealand were given a scare when Mahela Jayawardene took Sri Lanka to within striking range. But they fought back, despite some shoddy catching, to secure a nervy victory.Like any gripping novel, this cracker had decisive passages that determined the outcome. The first: Sri Lanka gambled on a four-pronged pace attack and that left them needing to do damage with the harder ball if they were to have a chance of restricting New Zealand. They let themselves down, and Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum posted New Zealand’s second-highest opening stand against Sri Lanka.The second: New Zealand crumpled from 125 for 0 to 140 for 4 before a spirited 69-run partnership between Daniel Vettori and Martin Guptill breathed life back into the innings. Sri Lanka suffered during the final five overs, as New Zealand held back the Powerplay and slammed 61 runs off those five overs.And the third: Sri Lanka were picking their way delightfully into a daunting target, their openers having set the tone in a free-spirited manner, but New Zealand turned the tables in a trice. Their four-pronged seam attack found more bounce on a flat track than Sri Lanka’s had, indicative of three wickets falling to deliveries held back on length. Despite Jayawardene’s brave hand Sri Lanka never recovered.For 19.5 overs there had been little that Sri Lanka’s attack could do about Ryder, the genius residing in him stirred by a pulled left abductor muscle, which would rule him out of the rest of the tournament. Ryder enjoyed some good fortune: he was let off by Ajantha Mendis at third man on 12, a misjudgment that left Sri Lanka aggrieved. Ryder didn’t look back after that reprieve, kick-starting the innings with a stream of withering pulls and drives, aided by the help of a runner. He reached fifty off just 28 balls and with McCullum put on 125.New Zealand wobbled thereafter, losing four wickets in 24 balls, but what followed was a terrific rearguard that helped New Zealand reach their highest score against Sri Lanka. Thriving in the company of Guptill, Vettori found the gaps with ease. Guptill knocked the ball around while Vettori took on Lasith Malinga early, slapping a six over third man. Some sloppy fielding in the middle overs, with a massive run out going begging, added to the pressure being released.Vettori’s dismissal in the 42nd over turned into a potential roadblock but Guptill, having contributed just 16 to the previous partnership, carried on to score a fluent 66 – a fine, hard-working innings even as the threat of losing partners lingered around the corner. James Franklin showed his worth on return to the side, clubbing an unbeaten 28 from 21 balls.During the Sri Lankan chase, Shane Bond looked unsure of where to bowl in his opening over when Sanath Jayasuriya clipped four and Tillakaratne Dilshan sent him for three boundaries in four balls. Dilshan latched on to anything off line and outscored Jayasuriya, who replied by sauntering out and flat-batting Bond and Kyle Mills through extra cover.Daryl Tuffey lived up to his reputation of a first-over specialist•AFP

Fortunately for New Zealand, Daryl Tuffey took care of Jayasuriya, who charged at a short ball and top-edged to midwicket. It was hard to comprehend why Tuffey was held back to first-change when he makes crucial contributions in his first over. Mills was given another over despite his first four going for 30, and had reason to smile when Dilshan top-edged to deep square leg for a 31-ball 41. Kumar Sangakarra failed to cash in on a drop by Vettori when on 0, nicking a short-of-a-length delivery from Franklin to slip.Three wickets fell, whereupon began a tense period. Tuffey made Jayawardene push outside off stump, but was let down when McCullum put down a nick. There are few batsmen who bring a more assured presence to the crease than Jayawardene. If New Zealand needed any reminding, he soon gave it to them, shoring up the pressure with determination despite two more wickets falling in relative succession.South Africa has not been Jayawardene’s favourite destination but he looked to reinvent himself here with a display of crisp batting that helped take 54 in the batting Powerplay. Every corner of the ground was pinged with alarming control, and with Nuwan Kulasekara weighing in, Sri Lanka briefly flourished. Vettori bowled Jayawardene with 97 still needed; Kulasekara boosted the total with his maiden fifty but it turned out to be mere a footnote in a special win for New Zealand.