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TEAMS: Both sides are dangerous floaters in the draw. Sri Lanka, with their explosive batting backed up by Muttiah Muralitharan’s extraordinary off-spin, are a major threat to any side on their day.
New Zealand, meanwhile, regularly punch above their weight in one-dayers and have their own trump cards in express pace bowler Shane Bond and batsman Nathan Astle.
FORMWATCH: Sri Lanka are so much more effective at home than away. They shared the Champions Trophy, the biggest one-day event outside the World Cup, with India in September, but then lost 4-1 in South Africa just before this tournament.
New Zealand hammered India 5-2 at home in their final warm-up but South Africa’s pitches will be quite different. Earlier in 2002 lost 3-0 in Pakistan, 3-1 in West Indies and were knocked out of the Champions Trophy at the first hurdle.
HEAD-TO-HEADS: Sri Lanka have dominated their more recent exchanges, winning 13 of the last 16 games since 1997.
But the teams have not played for almost a year, while New Zealand may opt instead to look at their World Cup form, having beaten the Sri Lankans in three of their four encounters.
KEY PLAYERS: Sri Lanka — Sanath Jayasuriya: The player of the 1996 World Cup, is approaching his best form again after a wretched tour of England last year. Hugely powerful left-hander, who hits on the up and throws the bat at anything wide.
New Zealand — Nathan Astle: Regarded as the country’s finest one-day batsman but with a lot to prove, having failed in his previous two World Cups. While Jayasuriya scored at a phenomenal strike rate of 131.54 in 1996, Astle scored more than twice as slowly with a meagre average of 18.5.
PREVIOUS WORLD CUPS: Sri Lanka won the 1996 tournament, in the process revolutionising the game with their all-out attacking batting in the first 15 overs. It was the first time they had qualified for the final stages of the Cup. In 1999, they crashed out early, prompting a cull of older players.
New Zealand were semifinalists in 1975, 1979, 1992 and 1999 as well as quarterfinalists in 1995.
VENUE: Goodyear Park became home to the Free State Cricket Union in 1989 but had to wait 10 years for its first Test when South Africa beat Zimbabwe in 1999.
Fast bowler Allan Donald, playing in front of his home crowd, became the first South African to take 300 Test wickets here against New Zealand in 2000.—Reuters
