Kiwis beat Sri Lanka

New Zealand kicked started the World Cup 2015 with a comfortable 98-run victory over Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval ground at Christchurch on Saturday.

The match started at 4:00am Bangladesh time after Lankan captain chose to bowl first winning the toss.

Sri Lankan scored 233 runs losing all wickets while chasing the huge total of 332-run target set by the host.

HDRL Thirimanne took the highest 65 runs off 60 ball while Angelo Mathews scored 46.

TG Southee, Kiwi bowlers TA Boult, AF Milne, CJ Anderson and DL Vettori bagged two wickets each.

New Zealand scored 331-run for six in 50-overs in the match.

CJ Anderson contributed 75 runs off 46 balls after blasting eight boundaries and two sixes.

Opener BB McCullum, who hit 10 fours and one six, added 65 runs off 49 balls.

Lankan bowlers RAS Lakmal and BMAJ Mendis bagged two wickets each while HMRKB Herath and KMDN Kulasekara picked up one wicket each.

Despite losing the match, Kumar Sangakkara reached 1000 WC runs and became the second-highest run scorer in ODI history crossing Ricky Ponting’s score.