Arjuna Ranatunga also probably had at the back of his mind that teams chasing had won the two previous encounters and a loss would have taken them out of the Wills ICC mini-World Cup.

Fifty nine overs and five balls later, Ranatunga was thoughtful at the dinner break, even after his team had just bundled out the Kiwis for a meagre 188. ``Relax. A victory will be good compensation,'' team coach Ranjit Fernando said. The five-wicket Lankan win vindicated Fernando's assessment. For it did not come without the usual dose of drama this tournament has provided so far.

Jayasuriya lasted one ball, Atapattu made three while Aravinda de Silva had a duck and barely 20 balls into the Lankan reply, the world champions were facing disaster.

Ranatunga picked up his bat and must have thanked Godfor not taking the Kiwis lightly. It was now his turn to see the team through. By the time the next wicket (Romesh Kaluwitharana) fell after a 127-run (155 balls) fourth-wicket partnership, Sri Lanka could afford to walk to the target.

Ranatunga likes walking down the wicket for singles. He began with a flurry of boundaries and once the issue was more or less settled, he was at his grafting best picking up the ones and twos.

There was a lot of anticipation prior to the match today, with several waiting for a characteristic hurricane knock from Jayasuriya. However, the Sri Lankan disappointed all with a lazy push to a Simon Doull delivery and the Kiwi keeper Adam Parore accepted the nick gleefully. Marvan Atapatu did the same and even before the Kiwi celebrations could die down, they got the big fish De Silva. New Zealand were on top and the stadium stunned.

The cool Ranatunga then got into the act. He steadied the innings in company of Kaluwitharana, and launched into the Kiwi attack. Kaluwitharanawas unlucky to be out two runs short of his half-century. Roshan Mahanama too, did not last long, but Ranatunga kept on going and hit the winning stroke, remaining unbeaten on 90.

Sri Lanka will now meet South Africa in the first semi-final on October 30.In the afternoon, it was yet another display of professional approach by the Lankans. Their bowlers, backed up by some useful fielding, tied New Zealand down.

Not for nothing is Muthiah Muralitharan known as the `Silent Assassin'. He has all the tricks up his sleeve and none of the batsmen, except maybe New Zealand's best player of spin, Adam Parore, could play him with confidence. His figures of 10-0-31-3 could have been much better had Parore not shielded his partners from Murali.

Stepham Fleming was one batsman who could have given the New Zealand innings shape. But the skipper, coming off his match-winning effort against Zimbabwe, was guilty of throwing his wicket away after a relatively good start. Two consecutive fours off Chaminda Vass andFleming was on roll. He aimed for a third-in-a-row, missed the line and was trapped in front.

New Zealnd looked up to Saturday night's magician Chris Harris, but magic does not happen every day. His failure put more pressure on Parore who perished trying to accelerate the scoring rate.

SCOREBOARD

New Zealand: M Bell st Kaluwitharana b Muralitharan 16 (48b, 2x4), N Astle c Jayasuriya b Zoysa 10 (9b, 2x4), S Fleming lbw Vaas 23 (26b, 3x4), C McMillan run out (Chandana) 26 (45b, 2x4), A Parore c Chandana b Dharmasena 54 (87b, 3x4), C Harris lbw Jayasuriya 8 (23b), A Tait b Muralitharan 7 (11b), D Vettori c Kaluwitharana b Muralitharan 9 (20b), S Doull run out 7 (12b), P Wiseman not out 7 (12b), G Allott (runout) 3 (7b); Extras (lb11, w6, nb1) 18.

Total (all out in 49.5 overs) 188.

Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Astle), 2-56 (Fleming), 3-58 (Bell), 4-118 (McMillan), 5-134 (Harris), 6-150 (Tait), 7-160 (Parore), 8-169 (Vettori), 9-176 (Doull).

Bowling: Chaminda Vaas 7-0-27-1; Nuwan Zoysa 6-0-24-1; UpulChandana 7-0-30-0; Muthiah Muralithaan 10-1-31-3; Sanath Jayasuriya 9.5-0-31-1; Kumara Dharmasena 10-0-35-1.

Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuria c Parore b Doull 0 (1b), Romesh Kaluwitharana run out 48 (75b, 5x4), Marvan Atapattu c Parore b Doull 3 (11b), Aravinda de Silva c Astle b Allott 0 (4b), Arjuna Ranatunga (not out) 90 (116b, 8x4), Roshan Mahanama c Allott b Wiseman 7 (20b), Upul Chandana (not out) 22 (23b, 4x4). Extras: (b8, lb6, w5, nb2) 21.

Total: (for five wickets in 41.3 overs) 191.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-4, 3-5, 4-132, 5-150.

Bowling: Simon Doull 5-1-17-2, George Allott 9-037-1, Daniel Vettori 10-144-1, Alex Tait 2-0-9-0, Chris HArris 6.3-1-29-0, Paul Wiseman 4-021-1, Craig McMillan 5-0-20-0.

Result: Sri Lanka won by five wickets.