AUCKLAND: Sri Lanka swept away top-placed New Zealand on Saturday to comfortably win the third one-day international in Auckland by 140 runs and salvage a lone win in the series.
The home team’s hopes of chasing Sri Lanka’s 290-8 took a nosedive as they collapsed to 21-5 at Eden Park, before being bowled out for 150 in 29.4 overs.
Sri Lanka bounced back after suffering heavy defeats in the first two matches to drop the three-match series.
It mirrored the pattern of the previous T20 series, which New Zealand also won 2-1.
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka was pleased that his team could show what they are capable of.
“I think it’s always great to make a comeback like this, but unfortunately we lost the first two of both series,” he said. “But today it was a pleasure to see.” The visitors were led by some lethal bowling from Asitha Fernando and Eshan Malinga, who claimed three wickets each, as did spinner Maheesh Theekshana.
Fernando (3-26) was the main destroyer with the new ball as New Zealand’s first five wickets fell within the first seven overs.
The margin of victory would have been greater if not for Mark Chapman’s 81 off 81 balls, the third New Zealand batsman in the last out when he was bowled by Theekshana (3-35).
No other New Zealander reached 20, and five of the top six were dismissed for two runs or less. Earlier, injured opener Pathum Nissanka was Sri Lanka’s top scorer with 66 off 42 balls.
Nissanka, was on 50 off 31 balls when he retired injured after suffering an apparent hip injury, having gotten his team off to a good start with an unbeaten 66 in 10 overs.
He recovered and returned in the 34th over to add 16 more 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 good series, claiming 4-55 to take him to 150 ODI wickets, while captain Mitchell Santner took 2-55 with his spin.
Santner said the target of 291 was “roughly on par” at Eden Park, but Sri Lanka’s bowlers took the game away from them.
“Asitha spun the ball, they took their catches and made it challenging for us,” Santner said. “We’ll take it on the chin. “A little disappointing, probably not the way we wanted to end the series after playing pretty well.”
MARKER
SRI LANKA:
P. Nissanka c Smith b Santner66
A. Fernando v Chapman b Smith17
KG Mendis c Bracewell b Santner54
KD Mendis c Latham b Henry46
C. Asalanka c Henry b Bracewell0
J. Liyanage v Phillips b Henry53
C. Wickramasinghe c Smith b Henry19
W. Hasaranga by Henry15
M. Theekshana is not out11
E. Malinga not out1
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-4)8
TOTAL (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 290
WICKET FALL: 1-69 (A. Fernando), 2-156 (KG Mendis), 3-160 (Asalanka), 4-183 (KD Mendis), 5-204 (Nissanka), 6-248 (Wickramasinghe), 7-272 (Hasaranga), 8-285 (Liyanage)
DID NOT BAT: AM Fernando
BOWLING: Henry 10-0-55-4, O’Rourke 10-0-57-0 (2w), Smith 8-0-62-1, Santner 10-0-55-2 (2w), Bracewell 9-0 -45-1, Phillips 3-0-12-0
NEW ZEALAND:
W. Young v A. Fernando b Theekshana 0
R. Ravindra b AM Fernando1
M. Chapman b Theekshana81
D. Mitchell c (sub) b Malinga2
T. Latham c Hasaranga b AM Fernando0
G. Phillips c KD Mendis b AM Fernando0
M. Bracewell v KD Mendis b Liyanage13
M. Santner v KG Mendis b Theekshana2
N. Smith v KG Mendis b Malinga17
M. Henry b Malinga12
W. O’Rourke is not out1
EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-1, W-18) 21
TOTAL (all out, 29.4 overs) 150
WICKETS FALL: 1-3 (Young), 2-4 (Ravindra), 3-20 (Mitchell), 4-21 (Latham), 5-21 (Phillips), 6-48 (Bracewell), 7-77 ( Santner), 8-128 (Smith), 9-143 (Enrique)
BOWLING: AM Fernando 7-0-26-3 (6w), Theekshana 7.4-0-35-3 (3w, 1nb), Malinga 7-1-35-3 (4w), Liyanage 3-0-16-1, Wickramasinghe 3-0-14-0, Hasaranga 2-0-22-0 (1 week)
RESULT: Sri Lanka won by 140 runs.
Published in Amanecer, January 12, 2025.
