Sri Lanka reached their second World Cup final after beating New Zealand by 81 runs in Kingston on Tuesday. The victory owed much to a brilliant century from their captain, Mahela Jayawardene, though Muttiah Muralidharan played his part with three wickets in six balls to end a brief New Zealand uprising.

If Jayawardene’s sublime, unbeaten 115 set up victory, Murali and the other spinners secured it with indecent haste, taking six wickets in 10 overs. One minute New Zealand were up with the Duckworth/Lewis rate at 105 for two, the next they were 116 for seven, as the sorcerer and his apprentices worked their magic.

Set 290 to win, New Zealand were quickly on the backfoot following a searching spell of swing bowling by Lasith Malinga. With dense cloud rolling off the Blue Mountains to create perfect swinging conditions, the batsmen missed far more than they hit, though Stephen Fleming can count himself a little unlucky when Rudi Koertzen gave him lbw.

When Ross Taylor followed, lbw to Chaminda Vaas, to another that would probably have missed the stumps, New Zealand perhaps began to realise that it wasn’t going to be their day.

Despite the poor start, New Zealand clawed their way back into contention through Peter Fulton and Scott Styris, and were marginally ahead of the rate at the 20-over mark.

Styris had a lucky escape on 17 when he was caught off a no-ball. Taking it as a sign, he decided to chance his arm, belting three wonderfully straight sixes before chipping Tillekeratne Dilshan’s off-spin to midwicket where Jayawardene took a smart catch.

The wicket brought a chain reaction, with Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum following soon after to successive balls from Murali.

Craig McMillan, relegated to No. 7 and saddled with a runner after pulling stomach muscle in the field, raged briefly, striking two sixes and a four. But once he had gone, the game was up despite a last-wicket rally by James Franklin and Jeetan Patel worth 59 runs.

The difference was that New Zealand had no one to match the brilliance of Jayawardene on a bare, dry pitch. His unbeaten 115 was his first World Cup hundred, and his most timely, given the importance of the game. New Zealand’s bowlers collectively failed to staunch the flow.

It was breathtaking stuff, especially the final 10 overs of Sri Lanka’s innings, when Jayawardene and Co. scored 102. His mixing of the delicate (two late cuts for four off Oram) with the savage (a six off Shane Bond smeared over midwicket) proved a nightmare for the captain setting the field as every vector of the ground was exploited.

The Sri Lankan captain’s knock was perfectly judged too. Biding his time, after the early loss of pace-setter Jayasuriya in the second over for one, Jayawardene did not strike a boundary until his 48th ball. With his first fifty coming off 76 balls, it looked as if he was settling for a competitive 240, but his second fifty took just 28 balls and the expectation was exceeded.

He required some good fortune. New Zealand will be rueing Taylor’s sloppy attempt to collect the ball when he was stranded mid-pitch after a mix-up with Upul Tharanga — who made a fine, run-a-ball 72. Jayawardene was on seven at the time and a clean pick would have seen him run out.

He was also dropped on 70, sweeping a full toss from Patel to Bond at deep square leg. The fast bowler adding insult to injury by tipping the ball over the line for a six.

Afterwards, the grateful Sri Lankans gathered around their captain, whose batting touched sublime levels. Four years ago he had a stinker of a World Cup, scoring 21 runs in seven innings. He has exorcised those demons here and given his team a chance of matching Sri Lanka’s heroes of 1996, the last team to beat Australia in a World Cup final.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

SEMI-FINAL nO. 1: IN A NUTSHELL

Synopsis

Mahela Jayawardene won an important toss and as nerves crept into a tired New Zealand side, the total swelled beyond reachable proportions. Jayawardene completed a brilliant hundred and, softened by Lasith Malinga, the New Zealand middle-order collapsed against Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers.

Where match was won

In the last ten overs when Sri Lanka scored 102 runs.

Man of the Match

Jayawardene not only timed his innings brilliantly but then made some inspired bowling changes.

Shot of the game

A straight six by Scott Styris against Muttiah Muralidharan.

Ball of the game

From Malinga to Ross Taylor — it whistled past his nose and almost knocked over Kumar Sangakkara.

Catch of the game

Muralidharan reacted sharply to dive to his right to hold Jacob Oram.

Crowd pleaser

The local organising committee who responded to the empty seats by letting in 1,000 students free of charge.