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Providence: Nathan McCullum (16 not out) slammed a huge six to snatch a 2-wicket victory for New Zealand over Sri Lanka with a ball to spare in the Twenty20 World Cup opening clash in Guyana on Saturday.
McCullum hit a four and a six in his 6-ball blitzkrieg and added important 15 runs with skipper Daniel Vettori (17) for the eighth wicket before the later was run-out in the penultimate over.
Chasing a modest 136-run target, New Zealand lost wickets at regular intervals against Sri Lanka to make it tough chase.
Ajantha Mendis scalped Scott Styris (17) in the seventeenth over soon after Muttiah Muralitharan dismissed Ross Taylor (9) to ignite hopes for the Lankans.
Kiwis also lost Martin Guptill (19) and Jesse Ryder (42) in consecutive overs after leading their innings with a decent stand.
Sanath Jayasuriya dismissed Guptill just after Ryder fell to Muralitharan in the previous over. Ryder and Guptill put on 62-run second wicket partnership to lead the New Zealand innings after losing opener Brendon McCullum (0) in the first over.
Ryder slammed three fours and two sixes in his quick-fire 27-ball inning whereas Guptill hit a four and a six in his 24-ball stay on the crease.
Angelo Mathews gave Sri Lanka a prefect start as he bowled a superb first over (wicket-maiden) to get rid of McCullum.
Earlier, Mahela Jayawardene (81) notched up his career-best score of the format to steer Sri Lanka to a modest 135 for six against New Zealand in the inaugural match of the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.
While his team-mates struggled to score runs in the slow Providence Stadium wicket, experienced Jayawardene's breezy 51-ball innings was a classic example of effortless sensible hitting.
He also shared a crucial 59-run fourth wicket stand with debutant Dinesh Chandimal (29 off 23) to lay the foundation for the Sri Lanka score.
Shane Bond turned out to be the pick of the Kiwi bowlers as he accounted for two Lankan batsmen by giving away 35 runs.
Opting to bat in the sluggish pitch, the Lankan openers found runs hard to score initially.
Out-of-form Tillakaratne Dilshan's (3 of 19) stay at the crease was a struggle which finally ended with Jacob Oram castling the opener's stumps in his first and innings sixth over.
Skipper Kumar Sangakkara too found runs hard to come by in the slow wicket as he took 11 deliveries to score his four runs before Scott Styris castled his stumps.
Jayawardene, however, showed his team-mates how to build an innings on the wicket and in the effort brought up his third Twenty20 half century in just 33 balls.
Young Chandimal also blossomed in Jayawardene's company as he hit a four and a six during his 23-ball innings before he was brilliantly caught at the boundary by Ross Taylor off Nathan McCullum.
Jayawardene single-handedly shouldered the Sri Lankan innings and hit as many as eight boundaries and two sixes before he was holed up at deep mid-wicket by Nathan McCullum off Tim Southee.
Bond picked up his two wickets in identical fashion in the final over of the Lankan innings.
The Kiwi pacer had both Chamara Kapugedera (11) and Angelo Mathews caught by Nathan McCullum at long off boundary in a span of three balls as the batsmen went for big shots.
Brief scores
Sri Lanka 135 for 6 (Jayawardene 81, Bond 2-35)
New Zealand 139 for 8 (Ryder 42, Muralitharan 2-25)
Result New Zealand won by two wickets
MOM Natahan McCullum (New Zealand)
