Daniel Vettori won the toss and chose to bat first at the Premadasa Stadium, as New Zealand and Sri Lanka prepared to fight for the right to progress to Saturday's World Cup final in Mumbai, where they will face the winner of tomorrow's second semi-final between India and Pakistan in Mohali.
These two teams have been in this position plenty times before. New Zealand have reached the semi-finals in six of the ten World Cups to date, a prolific record from a habitually under-rated team, while Sri Lanka have made it this far for the third consecutive tournament, having been knocked out by the eventual winners Australia in 2003, before beating the Kiwis at the same stage four years ago, thanks to a brilliant hundred from Mahela Jayawardene at Sabina Park.
On a worn track that has attracted criticism from Vettori, seeing as it is the same surface on which Sri Lanka beat England by ten wickets last Saturday, spin will once again come to the fore, with Muttiah Muralitharan passed fit to play in his final international on home soil, having laboured with a hamstring strain during the latter stages of the England match. He will form a four-prong spin attack with Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis, and Tillakaratne Dilshan, who took the new ball in that England game.
New Zealand have made one change to the team that stunned South Africa in a gripping semi-final in Dhaka last week. Luke Woodcock, the third spinner, has been swapped for the left-arm seam of Andy McKay, who is himself a replacement for Kyle Mills, who has been withdrawn from the squad through injury.
Given how one-sided the clash between these two teams proved to be during the group stages, all the omens point to a comfortable Sri Lankan victory, especially seeing as New Zealand have lost in each of their previous five semi-final appearances. Nevertheless, the spirit they showed in that victory over South Africa, coupled with the turnaround in form they have discovered since losing 11 consecutive ODIs in the subcontinent last year, has been formidable. They will believe they are capable of another upset.
Sri Lanka 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Silva, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Lasith Malinga, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Rangana Herath, 11 Ajantha Mendis
New Zealand 1 Brendom McCullum (wk), 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Jesse Ryder, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Kane Williamson, 7 Nathan McCullum, 8 Jacob Oram, 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Andy McKay.
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