7th Match: Sri Lanka Vs. New Zealand - - Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill Help New Zealand To keep Alive Their Hopes For Semi Finals

New Zealand 315 for 7 (Ryder 74, Guptill 66, Vettori 48) beat Sri Lanka 277 (Jayawardene 77, Kulasekara 57*) by 38 runs

Half-centuries from Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill helped New Zealand keep alive their Champions Trophy chances with a comfortable 38-run victory over Sri Lanka at the Wanderers today.

Ryder, who has since been ruled out of the tournament with a groin injury, smacked 74 from 58 balls and Guptill (66) helped New Zealand post a daunting 315 for seven.

The Sri Lankans got off to a good start in response, but were eventually bowled out for 277 in 46.4 overs, with Mahela Jayawardene, who hit 77, and Nuwan Kulasekara (57 not out) their leading scorers.

There was a surprise at the start when Sri Lanka opted to drop the out-of-form Muttiah Muralitharan and replace him with Thilan Thushara on what was expected to be a lively surface. They also won the toss and chose to field, but both decisions looked questionable early on as Ryder, injured in the fifth over, went on the attack.

Together with Brendon McCullum, the pair raised the 50 from just 45 balls and, after being put down by Thilina Kandamby at square-leg while on 38, the all-rounder took only 28 balls for his own half-century, which included 38 in boundaries.

The 100 came up in just the 16th over, but Sri Lanka finally broke through when another Ryder swish was edged straight to Kumar Sangakkara – Kulasekara ending an entertaining innings.

McCullum then followed when he got a leading edge off Angelo Mathews to Tillakaratne Dilshan at backward point for 46.

It was 128 for two at that stage and that quickly became 161 for five following the quick wickets of Ross Taylor (four), Grant Elliott out for a duck and Neil Broom (15).

But Daniel Vettori added 69 with Guptill for the sixth wicket, before he was eventually removed by Sanath Jayasuriya for 48. His partner fought on to reach his fourth career half-century and along with James Franklin (28 not out) helped New Zealand set 316.

Dilshan and Jayasuriya began assertively, reaching 50 inside the sixth over, with the former looking particular devastating as he set about Shane Bond and Kyle Mills.

That prompted a bowling change with Daryl Tuffey brought in and he repaid Vettori's faith by removing Jayasuriya for 24, when the veteran top-edged to midwicket.

But the captain let his team down five balls later - dropping a sitter at mid-off after opposite number Sangakkara mishit the ball straight to him. There was some reprieve later in the over, though, when Dilshan's hook went straight to substitute fielder Jeetan Patel at square leg.

Sangakkara (11) was dismissed in the 13th over when he found Taylor at first slip after a short ball from Franklin, leaving Sri Lanka 85 for three and in serious trouble.

They suffered further set-backs with the dismissals of Thilan Samaraweera (18), Kandamby (11) and Mathews (two) cheaply.

Jayawardene tried desperately to keep up with the run-rate, reaching his half-century from 65 deliveries, and he finally found a decent partner in Kulasekara, the two putting on 50 in 35 balls. But the partnership and Sri Lanka's hopes were eventually eroded with the demise of Jayawardene, whose 85-ball knock ended when he was bowled by Vettori.

Despite a late attempt by Kulasekara, whose 50 came in 54 balls, to salvage something from the game, he ran out of partners as Sri Lanka slipped to their second defeat in the tournament, their hopes of progress now dependent on England winning their remaining games.