New Zealand crush Sri Lanka, put one foot in World Cup semis

BENGALURU :New Zealand returned to winning ways at the World Cup following a four-match slump as they defeated Sri Lanka by five wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday and all but secured their place in the semi-finals.

Opening batsmen Devon Conway (45) and Rachin Ravindra (42) got fourth-placed New Zealand's chase of 172 off to a fast start and Daryl Mitchell (43) took them close before they crossed the finish line in 23.2 overs.

Victory left New Zealand on 10 points - in pole position to claim the last semi-final spot and join India, South Africa and Australia. Pakistan will now need to beat England by an almost impossible margin to leapfrog New Zealand on net run rate.

Afghanistan, who also had slim hopes of qualifying for the knockouts, find themselves in a similar position as their Asian neighbours before their clash with South Africa.

"Really good performance," said New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson. "The early wickets and spin was a challenge through those middle overs. The pitch really slowed down later.

"The guys showed some good intent later with the chase, so great performance overall. We thought there was going to be some weather later but there wasn't any. Hard to read such things."

Earlier, seamer Trent Boult and off-spinner Mitchell Santner landed timely blows as Sri Lanka limped to 171 all out after an early blitz by Kusal Perera (51) and a defiant late effort by Maheesh Theekshana (38 not out).

"Nice to get a bit of success at the top. A must-win game, the pleasure is about getting the result," said man-of-the-match Boult, who went past 600 international wickets.

Barring an unlikely miracle in Pakistan's last game, New Zealand will take on hosts India in the semi-finals.

"Everyone wants a piece of the