At the beginning of the New Zealand vs Sri Lanka series much ado was made over New Zealand using this series to test out their younger brigade and Sri Lanka stood insulted by the move.
But Sri Lanka Cricket is so centered around just the big 3 that it is perplexing to encounter a time they have a bad day. Yesterday was nearly such. Mahela Jayawardena who was sent to open possibly with the idea of beating the rain and putting up a thundering score as Duckworth Lewis could come into play and favour the batting side. Jayawardena was in sublime flow and is always a treat first up. He has made a big sacrifice coming down the order as he is so suited to open the batting in the ODIs and it would do his averages a lot of good.
T M Dilshan adopting a sedate stance of late buckled down to another steady innings. However the Dambulla pitch offered some bounce which played into the hands of the mediocre Kiwi bowling and the run-chasing Sri Lankan batsmen perished. Jayawardena’s vigil ended at 46 in 46 balls in a 90- run partnership with Dilshan. And as if that was not bad enough, Kumar Sangakkara chose the second ball he faced to pull and had it brushing his stumps much to the chagrin of the batsman who is determined to improve his ODI record in the later stages of his career. Nathan McCullum did all the damage removing Jayawardena and Sangakkara to send Sri Lanka into a downward spiral. Dilshan was next dismissed by Mitchell McClenaghan for a 50 ball 53.
The much talked about Sri Lankan middle order is yet to show their might with the young’uns still not finding their feet which spells impending disaster for the island nation on the brink of losing their veterans. Lahiru Tirimanna took a fairly aggressive stance which was the need of the hour but perished at 23 with other hope Dinesh Chandimal scoring an average 15. Before that skipper Angelo Mathews misjudged and at the time he got out Sri Lanka was in much trouble at 110 for 4 after being 91 for 1.
Thisara Perera was unable to flourish this time around and the ever- reliable Kulasekara also could not show his wares. Sri Lanka had lost 5 wickets for 63 runs when Sachithra Senanayake and Rangana Herath succeeded in taking the total to 211 for 8 in 33 overs sharing a 27 run partnership in just 11 balls. The overs were reduced to 33 after the second stoppage for rain.
Sachithra Senanayake’s all round quality took a while to be addressed by the Sri Lanka Cricket selection committee but perhaps he sealed his fate with yesterday’s performance. The ‘man of the match’ played a pivotal role in Sri Lanka’s win smashing a 14 ball 21, which included a towering six. He also took two crucial middle-order wickets and a stupendous diving catch at cover to remove Luck Ronchi.
Kyle Mills tried 7 bowlers with McClenaghan, McCullum and Neesham taking 2 a piece with McCullum returning brilliant figures 2 for 13 in 4 overs.
Duckworth Lewis dished out a target of 216 in 33 overs but the Kiwis were 126-6 in 25 overs when bad light stopped play. Nathan McCullum who has been the only thing standing between Sri Lanka and New Zealand was for the second time in the series hunting the home side target with a vengeance. He remained unbeaten on 35 off 19 balls. James Neesham helped the cause with 42 in 46 balls. The pair were on a devastating 63 run partnership before match ended in bad light leaving Sri Lanka ahead on D/L method. Rangana Herath took 3 for 25 to return best figures for Sri Lanka.
SCOREBOARD
Sri Lanka:
M.Jayawardene c Ronchi b N. McCullum 46
T. Dilshan c Ronchi b McClenaghan 53
K. Sangakkara b N. McCullum 00
L. Thirimanne c Latham b Mills 23
A. Mathews c Ronchi b McClenaghan 00
D. Chandimal lbw b Neesham 15
T. Perera c Latham b Ellis 08
N. Kulasekara c Mills b Neesham 14
S. Senanayake not out 21
R. Herath not out 17
Extras: (b1, lb3, w9, nb1) 14
Total (for eight wickets, 33 overs) 211
Fall of wickets: 1-91 (Jayawardene), 2-91 (Sangakkara) 3-110 (Dilshan), 4-110 (Mathews) 5-144 (Thirimanne), 6-146 (Chandimal) 7-165 (Perera), 8-184 (Kulasekara)
Bowling:
Mills 6-1-35-1
McClenaghan 7-0-34-2
Ellis 6-0-51-1
Devcich 3-0-31-0
Nicol 2-0-17-0
N. McCullum 4-0-13-2
Neesham 5-0-26-2
New Zealand
(Duckworth-Lewis target 216):
T. Latham lbw b Senanayake 09
A. Devcich c Herath b Kulasekara 05
R. Nicol st Sangakkara b Herath 01
G. Elliott b Herath 03
C. Munro b Senanayake 01
L. Ronchi c Senanayake b Herath 23
J. Neesham not out 42
N. McCullum not out 35
Extras: (lb1, w6) 07
Total (for six wickets, 25 overs) 126
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Devcich), 2-17 (Latham) 3-21 (Elliott), 4-22 (Munro) 5-26 (Nicol), 6-63 (Ronchi)
Bowling:
Senanayake 5-1-14-2
Kulasekara 4-1-20-1 (w3)
Mathews 1-0-4-0
Herath 6-0-25-3
Dilshan 6-0-31-0
Malinga 3-0-31-0 (w3)
