Sri Lanka made what could have been a convincing win a nervous one at the end when they surprisingly shuffled the batting order and saw three wickets fall for 16 runs before eventually wining by three wickets in the second ODI of the tri-nation series against New Zealand here at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium yesterday.
Chasing a target of 193, the Sri Lankans were well poised on 162 for three when Man of the Match Upul Tharanga fell for 70. Angelo Mathews was dismissed two runs later and the Sri Lankans refrained from sending Chamara Kapugedara at number seven as they shuffled the batting order.
The hosts had to reach the winning target in 40 overs to get the bonus point and the decision to send Nuwan Kulasekara and Rangana Herath ahead of Kapugedara took many people by surprise.
Eventually when the seventh wicket fell with the total on 180, the Sri Lankans ended their experiments sending Kapugedara in finally. They needed eight runs off the 40th over to gain the Bonus Point, but failed to achieve that and eventually got home with three wickets to spare.
Tharanga was involved in an 85 run stand with captain Kumar Sangakkara for the second wicket after Tillekeratne Dilshan fell early for five runs.
Sangakkara played well for his 48 and was dismissed when Martin Guptill at short extra cover took a stunner off the bowling of Scot Styris. Nathan McCullum dismissed Mahela Jayawardene soon afterwards with the total on 119, but Tharanga added 43 runs for the fourth wicket with Thilan Samaraweera to steady things through.
They were 143 for three when the 34th over ended and needed 50 runs off six overs to win with the Bonus Point. The batsmen opted for the Batting Power Play and threw the bat around to help the team gain the additional point, but the effort wasn’t good enough.
Samaraweera was not out on 36 off 38 balls with four fours.
Earlier, after electing to bat first, the New Zealanders failed to reproduce their giant killing effort against the Indians in the curtain-raiser of the tournament here three days ago.
Coming into the game with three changes, the tourists lost Martin Guptill for a duck in the first over of the match as Lasith Malinga claimed his 100th wicket in ODI cricket.
A 45 run stand for the second wicket followed between debutant Brad Walting and captain Ross Taylor. Angelo Mathews produced the breakthrough when he claimed two wickets in three balls when he trapped the New Zealand skipper leg before wicket for 16 and Kane Williamson departed without scoring when Thilan Samaraweera took a catch at fist slip.
Walting went on to score a half-century and was Mathews’ third victim when he was caught behind by Sangakkara.
The tourists slumped to 123 for seven in the 30th over when Malinga removed Gareth Hopkins and Daryl Tuffey off successive balls.
Nathan McCullum teamed up with the tail to take the score close to 200. McCullum made 36 off 64 balls. Malinga and Mathews finished with thee wickets apiece while left-arm spinner Rangana Herath claimed two.
Scoreboard
New Zealand
B. Watling c Sangakkara b Mathews 55
M. Guptill c Kapugedera b Malinga 0
R. Taylor lbw b Mathews 16
K. Williamson c Samaraweera b Mathews 0
S. Styris c Jayawardene b Herath 24
G. Hopkins c Kapugedera b Malinga 11
N. McCullum c Herath b Mendis 36
D. Tuffey b Malinga 0
K. Mills c Mathews b Herath 11
T. Southee c Dilshan b Kulasekara 13
A. McKay not out 4
Extras: (5b, 4lb, 3nb, 10w) 22
TOTAL: (all out) 192
Overs: 48.1
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-47, 3-47, 4-99, 5-101, 6-123, 7-123, 8-143, 9-178, 10-192.
Bowling: Malinga 10-1-35-3 (3nb, 4w), Kulasekara 8.1-1-35-1 (1w), Mathews 10-1-36-3 (1w), Mendis 10-0-42-1 (4w), Herath 10-0-35-2.
Sri Lanka
U. Tharanga c Watling b Mills 70
T. Dilshan c and b Mills 5
K. Sangakkara c Guptill b Styris 48
M. Jayawardene c Taylor b McCullum 5
T. Samaraweera not out 36
A. Mathews c Taylor b Mills 0
N. Kulasekara c Hopkins b Southee 7
R. Herath c Taylor b Mills 2
C. Kapugedera not out 9
Extras: (4b, 1lb, 8w) 13
TOTAL: (for 7 wickets) 195
Overs: 40.5
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-96, 3-119, 4-162, 5-164, 6-177, 7-180.
Did not bat: L. Malinga, A. Mendis.
Bowling: Mills 9.5-1-41-4 (2w), Tuffey 5-0-31-0 (1w), Southee 6-0-41-1 (3w), McKay 4-0-26-0, McCullum 7-0-23-1, Williamson 1-0-6-0 (2w), Styris 8-0-22-1.
Toss: New Zealand
Result: Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets.
Umpires: K. Dharmasena (SL), S. Taufel (Aus)
TV umpire: T. Wijewardena (SL)
Match referee: A. Hurst (Aus)
