Crucket

A 97-run defeat is pretty damn disappointing (though not as devastating as Jamie Alter wants to make out: “any self-belief that lingered after the Tests [has] now vanished“). Remarkably however, this has been the best result for a team batting second at the R. Premadasa Stadium for the 2009 season. In two attempts in August, Sri Lanka was not able to get within 130 runs of Pakistan’s totals.

I was disappointed when the tour schedule was changed from 5 ODIs against Sri Lanka to a miniature tri-series with India, but considering how one-sided games in Colombo have been, cutting the number of ODIs featuring NZ from 5 to a likely 2 seems a blessing.

If you are hoping for a tight result in tonight’s ODI between NZ and Sri Lanka in Colombo, history suggests you will be disappointed. This is a list of the margins for the past 10 completed matches in R. Premadasa Stadium:

107 runs
33 runs
46 runs
112 runs
15 runs
147 runs
67 runs
68 runs
146 runs
132 runs

It is barely worth stating that winning the toss is essential.