Lions skittle Kiwis
Auckland, New Zealand, AFP: Sri Lanka razed New Zealand’s top-order on Saturday to comfortably win the third one-day international in Auckland by 140 runs and salvage a lone victory in the series. The home side’s hopes of chasing down Sri Lanka’s 290-8 nosedived when they crumbled to 21-5 at Eden Park, before being dismissed for 150 off 29.4 overs.
Sri Lanka rebounded after suffering heavy defeats in the first two games to cede the three-match series. It mirrored the pattern of the preceding T20 series, which New Zealand also won 2-1. Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka was pleased his side could show what they are capable of.
“I think it’s always great to make comeback like this but unfortunately, we lost first two of both series,” he said.
The visitors were led by some lethal seam bowling from Asitha Fernando and Eshan Malinga, who claimed three wickets each, as did spinner Maheesh Theekshana. Fernando (3-26) was the chief destroyer with the new ball as New Zealand’s first five wickets tumbled inside the first seven overs.
The victory margin would have been greater, were it not for Mark Chapman’s 81 off 81 balls, the number three New Zealand batsman the last out when he was bowled by Theekshana (3-35). No other New Zealander reached 20, with five of the top six dismissed for two runs or less.
Earlier, injured opener Pathum Nissanka top-scored for Sri Lanka with 66 off 42 balls. Nissanka, was on 50 off 31 balls when he retired hurt after suffering an apparent hip injury, having got his team off to a flying start at 66 without loss in 10 overs.
He recovered and returned in the 34th over to add a further 16 runs, hitting six fours and five sixes in total. There were half-centuries from Kusal Mendis (54 off 48) and Janith Liyanage (53 off 52) in a vastly improved Sri Lankan batting effort.
New Zealand seamer Matt Henry continued a fine series, claiming 4-55 to lift him to 150 ODI wickets, while captain Mitchell Santner took 2-55 with his spin. Santner said the target of 291 was “about par” at Eden Park but the game was ripped away from them by Sri Lanka’s bowlers.
SCORECARD | |
Sri LankaPathum Nissanka c Smith b Santner 66 Avishka Fernando c Chapman b Smith 17 Jusal Mendis c Bracewell b Santner 54 Kamindu Mendis c Latham b Henry 46 Charith Asalanka c Henry b Bracewell 00 Janith Liyanage c Phillips b Henry 53 Chamindu Wickramasinghe c Smith b Henry 19 Wanindu Hasaranga b Henry 15 Maheesh Theekshana not out 11 Eshan Malinga not out 01 Extras (lb4, w4) 08 Total (8 wickets; 50 overs) 290 Did not bat: Asitha Fernando Fall of wickets: 0-66 (Nissanka, retired not out), 1-69 (Fernando, 11.1ov), 2-156 (Kusal, 27.3ov), 3-160 (Asalanka, 29.2ov), 4-183 (Kamindu, 33.5ov), 5-204 (Nissanka, 36.5ov), 6-248 (Wickramasinghe, 45.1ov), 7-272 (Hasaranga, 47.4ov), 8-285 (Liyanage, 49.3ov) Bowling: Matt Henry 10-0-55-4, Will O’Rourke 10-0-57-0, Nathan Smith 8-0-62-1, Mitchell Santner 10-0-55-2, Michael Bracewell 9-0-45-1, Glenn Phillips 3-0-12-0New Zealand Will Young c Avishka b Theekshana 00 Rachin Ravindra b Asitha 01 Mark Chapman b Theekshana 81 Daryl Mitchell c Nuwanidu b Malinga 02 Tom Latham c Hasaranga b Asitha 00 Glenn Phillips c Kamindu b Asitha 00 Michael Bracewell c Kamindu b Liyanage 13 Mitchell Santner c Kusal b Theekshana 02 Nathan Smith c Kusal b Malinga 17 Matt Henry b Malinga 12 Will O’Rourke not out 01 Extras (lb2, nb1, w18) 21 Total (all out; 29.4 overs) 150 Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Young, 1.4ov), 2-4 (Ravindra, 2.2ov), 3-20 (Mitchell, 5.3ov), 4-21 (Latham, 6.2ov), 5-21 (Phillips, 6.5ov), 6-48 (Bracewell, 12.6ov), 7-77 (Santner, 17.1ov), 8-128 (Smith, 26.1ov), 9-143 (Henry, 28.2ov), 10-150 (Chapman, 29.4ov) Bowling: Asitha Fernando 7-0-26-3, Maheesh Theekshana 7.4-0-35-3, Eshan Malinga 7-1-35-3, Janith Liyanage 3-0-16-1, Chamindu Wickramasinghe 3-0-14-0, Wanindu Hasaranga 2-0-22-0 |