INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
New Zealand kept their Womens T20 World Cup hopes alive with a 102-run thrashing of Sri Lanka at Boland Park in Paarl on Sunday.Suzie Bates
and Amelia Kerr hit half-centuries as the White Ferns scored 162 for 3 on a sluggish pitch.Sri Lanka could just manage 60 in reply.New
Zealand moved into second place in Group One behind safeguarding champions Australia, however might still be overtaken by hosts South
Africa, who play Bangladesh on Tuesday.Sri Lanka, who won their first 2 matches, ended up the group phase level on points with New Zealand
but were eliminated on net run rate.Ms
Bates followed up her unbeaten 81 versus Bangladesh on Friday with 56, while Ms
Bernadine Bezuidenhout set the tone for New Zealand, hitting 32 off 20 balls in an opening partnership of 46 in 5.4 overs with Ms
Kerr joined Bates and the set added 110 for the second wicket prior to Bates was baffled in the last over
Kerr was gone out off the penultimate ball of the innings.The New Zealand batters chose their shots and ran hard between wickets.It was a
performance that was in plain contrast to an earlier match on the very same pitch when neither West Indies nor Pakistan might achieve a
scoring rate of a run a ball.Sri Lanka wilted under the pressure
Bezuidenhout and Bates were both dropped and there were numerous misfields.Set to score more than eight runs an over, Sri Lankas
possibilities vaporized rapidly.They lost three wickets in the six-over powerplay prior to Amelia Kerr provided a killer blow by trapping
Sri Lanka captain and star player Chamari Athapaththu for 19 in the eighth over.New Zealand used six bowlers and they all took wickets, with
Lea Tahuhu and Amelia Kerr taking two each.Source: AFP-- Agencies
