WICKET! Frenetic stuff! Perera lined up another heave to leg as Mills started his fourth over, but the ball took the top edge and looped instead down to third man for four. The bowler struck back with his very next delivery, a slower one that Perera sliced through to send the ball almost straight up. Williamson held onto the catch, but New Zealand's fielding in the remainder of the over left a little to be desired. Senanayake might have been run out twice, but instead he survives, and his team will look to him to make the most of the final six deliveries.
Perera and Senanayake are paying precious little attention to the wickets column. Sri Lanka need some brave batting, and so far these two are providing. Senanayake does most of the damage in this over from Neesham, clubbing a four over mid-off and then lifting a length delivery out to wide long-on, where Anderson parries the ball over the ropes. What's worse, Anderson appears to have dislocated a finger during the misfield, and immediately leaves the field to get some medical attention.
Thisara Perera has a strike rate of just under 150 in Twenty20 internationals, and he's not going to hold back, no matter the scoreline. He sets himself at the crease and throws everything into three wild swipes at Mills before finally connecting with one, the ball arcing in the air towards deep cover ... but falling just short of a diving Martin Guptill and bouncing past him for four.
WICKET! The batsmen continue to tumble! This has become a real procession. Kulasekara was new to the crease but time is swiftly running out, and he had to get into his stride quickly. He might, perhaps, have simply had a defensive look at his first delivery, but instead leaned back in his crease and set himself for a real wallop ... but McClenaghan rolled his fingers across the delivery, and the shot flew straight to Nathan McCullum at short extra cover. The over completes McClenaghan's work with the ball for the day, and he finishes with a tidy 4-0-24-2.
WICKET! And another! Sri Lanka are fading now. Jayawardene was, perhaps, there last hope of posting a hefty total, and he's gone now. He'd just hit a boundary off Nathan McCullum too - skipping down the track to get to the pitch and swatting the ball over midwicket. McCullum stayed round the wicket and the very next ball rushed on with the arm to bowl a sweeping Jayawardene round his legs. We know that these conditions suit the bowlers - Netherlands showed as much earlier - but will Sri Lanka be able to reach a challenging total now?
WICKET! New Zealand continue to chip away. McClenaghan has his first. He'd adopted a back-of-a-length, and at times, bouncer approach at the batsmen, and it appeared to have backfired as he dug one in very short and conceded a wide. But the overall effect was to keep the batsmen deep in the crease, expecting the short one, and Mathews departs as he attempts to drive, from the crease and on the up, and nicks off.
Spin for the first time from New Zealand: it's Nathan McCullum. He scoots very quickly through his first over, coming round the wicket and spearing the ball in flat and fast. With that approach, there's minimal turn off the track, but his lines are tight enough to keep the batsmen to nothing more than singles - four of them.
WICKET! Neesham breaks the stand! He strikes with his very first delivery of the match, Thirimanne slashing a cut in the air and down to Guptill at third man. Jayawardene's immediate riposte is to flick a boundary to fine leg, and he and Mathews run hard to make sure 8 runs come from the over despite the wicket. This pitch is providing a riveting battle between bat and ball. How many runs will Sri Lanka be happy with?
Thirimanne reaches out at a full one from Anderson and attempts to loft him over the infield, but the connection isn't a clean one and he's very lucky to survive as the ball loops over the backpedalling mid-on fielder. There's a little bit of needle between Thirimanne and Anderson thereafter, with the bowler repeatedly changing up his pace in order to keep the batsmen guessing. This stand is now worth 30 runs, and could well turn out to be a vital one for Sri Lanka.
McClenaghan continues, and he does a good job of bossing Sri Lanka's batsmen about. Both Thirimanne and Jayawardene move about a great deal in the crease, but every shot they connect with finds a fielder and they have to be content with ones and twos.
Anderson comes back into the attack, and such has been New Zealand's dominance that he's still got a slip in place - in the ninth over! Thirimanne and Jayawardene find a single apiece, but Jayawardene, in particular, looks vulnerable. Anderson beats his outside edge with a slow cutter, and then zings one down at maximum pace to hurry the batsman's defensive poke. Jayawardene is very lucky indeed as a bottom edge bounces over the stumps ...
With his bowlers snapping at the Sri Lankans, Brendon McCullum has decided to bowl Trent Boult out straight away. His fourth over is another good one, though Thirimanne is brave enough to uppercut a rising delivery up and over the slips for four. But the damage to Boult's figures is limited, and he finishes with 4-0-20-3. Good work. Can New Zealand keep it up?
This has been a superb start from New Zealand's seamers, and Mitchell McClenaghan keeps up the good work as he's brought on to bowl the 7th over. He's got two slips in place, and after shaping one past the outside the man at second slip is almost in business. Thirmanne is leaden-footed at the crease as he swishes at one that leaves him, and the ball flies just past a diving Nathan McCullum. You might call that a missed chance, but McCullum did well just to get near to it.
WICKET! Sangakkara falls, and Sri Lanka are slipping. Sangakkara looked at ease, getting off the mark with one of his trademark flowing drives through extra cover, but he didn't find the going quite so easy when Boult pulled his length back. The left-hander aimed a flat-batted swat over the infield, but could get the ball only as far as a diving Anderson at mid-off.
A tight first over from Corey Anderson, who replaces Kyle Mills. This new ball is nipping around a fair bit under the lights, and Jayawardene manages to run one down to third man for the only scoring shot of the over.
WICKET! Well, in the last over the Dilscoop brought him four runs, but this time it's caused Dilshan's dismissal. The delivery was, perhaps, just a little too quick for him, and Boult is bowling with really good wheels in this spell. His third delivery rushed on to Dilshan as he ducked in his crease, ricocheting off the bat to be easily caught by a backpedalling Ronchi. Kumar Sangakkara leaves his first two balls outside off, and pokes with no great certainty at the third as it scoots past his outside edge.
An early look at the Dilscoop! Dilshan clearly premeditated the shot, and Mills responded with a slower ball, but that didn't stop the batsman from lapping it cleanly back over the wicketkeeper's head for four. The bowler comes back well in the over after the boundary, mixing up his pace and beating the outside edge of a Dilshan slash outside off. Jayawardene, meanwhile, is allowed to get off the mark by a slight misfield at point.
WICKET! Yet more fun and games from Perera, but he's gone now. He leans back in his crease to rifle a backfoot thump through cover point off Trent Boult's left-arm pace, but then departs after apparently feathering one down the leg side. Perera doesn't reckon he's hit it, but Ronchi appeals as the ball thumps into his gloves and Umpire Aleem Dar raises the finger. Perera really isn't happy, and shakes his head as he leaves the crease. Will the match referee be having a look at this? Between times, there's also a beamer from Boult, who seems to suggest that either a wet ball, or a sweaty palm, was to blame.
Sri Lanka have plenty of support in the stadium today, and they've found their voice very early on. Perera gets them going with a neat little flick off his pads for four, and then sparks even louder shouts with a muscled jab that flies over a leaping Jimmy Neesham for six at deep midwicket. Perera certainly isn't one to hold back, but this is a weakness as well as a strength. After two powerful boundaries, he heaves wildly at the final delivery of the over and connects with fresh air.
There are, of course, no official quarterfinals in this tournament, but this game is effectively just that - whichever side loses today will crash out, while the winner will progress. So, with that in mind, let's begin ...
As we saw earlier, the pitches here in Chittagong may be flat, but the lack of pace and tennis-ball bounce can make it hard to force the pace. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka will still be aiming to put at least 160 on the board. The most important factor may well be the dew, however, and that made New Zealand's call at the toss crucial. The skies are still partly cloudly, so the dew may not be as bad as we were all worried about, but it will still affect Sri Lanka's bowling in the second half of this match.
You may have noticed that Sri Lanka's captain, Dinesh Chandimal, is missing from that team list, and indeed he's been slapped with a one-match ban for a slow over rate. That means Thirimanne, the left-handed batsman, comes in to the XI, and Lasith Malinga will captain for the first time in his international career. Sri Lanka have also swapped Ajantha Mendis, who came in for serious punishment against England, for the left-arm spin of Rangana Herath. New Zealand, meanwhile, are playing an unchanged XI from their last match against Netherlands.
1. Guptill, 2. Williamson, 3. B McCullum (c), 4. Taylor, 5. Anderson, 6. Neesham, 7. Ronchi (wk), 8. N McCullum, 9. Boult, 10. Mills, 11. McClenaghan.
1. Perera, 2. Dilshan, 3. Jayawardene, 4. Sangakkara (wk), 5. Mathews, 6. Thirimanne, 7. Perera, 8. Kulasekara, 9. Senanayake, 10. Herath, 11. Malinga (c).
New Zealand have won the toss and, unsurprisingly, opted to bowl first against Sri Lanka in the second match of the day in Chittagong.
Hello and welcome to the second WT20 match of this day, this one with a bit more import. The winner will go through to the semi-finals, and the loser will bow out. Have you recovered from the Holland win over England? Go make a cuppa and join us in 30 minutes for this game.