Phillips special helps New Zealand recover to 167/7

Sydney: Glenn Phillips made most of the luck that came his way, hitting a fiery century as New Zealand recovered from a poor start to post a competitive 167 for seven in their T20 World Cup match against Sri Lanka, here on Saturday.

New Zealand found themselves tottering at 15 for three inside the powerplay before Phillps (104 off 64) shared an 84-run stand with Daryl Mitchell (22 off 24) to stabilise the innings.

Phillips, who was dropped on 12 before getting another life later in the innings, played some sensational strokes and was also brilliant in finding the gaps. His innings comprised four sixes and 10 boundaries.

His flat batted forehand shots off both the spinners and pacers stood out in his memorable innings. His first six off Chamika Karunaratne, a pick up shot that went flying over long leg, gave him the confidence to go ballistic and lift the team from a precarious start. Phillips reached the three figure mark with a pull off mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana, prompting roaring celebrations from the belligerent batter.

Theekshana, who impressed with the new ball, was too short in the death overs and Phillips took full advantage of that. The New Zealander smashed him for two successive sixes in the 18th over that went for 16. The last five overs yielded 67 runs for New Zealand. Sri Lanka’s catching and ground fielding on the day left a lot to be desired.

The only positive for Sri Lanka was their performance in the first six overs in which they removed the dangerous Finn Allen, Devon Conway and New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson.

Theekshana removed Finn with an inswinger, pretty unusual for a spinner, that was too close to cut. Willamson was caught behind as he tried to drive wide ball off pacer Kasun Rajitha on the up.