NZ v SL 3rd ODI Review: Lanka hunts down 277 to keep the series alive

Kane Williamson, who was captaining the side in place of an injured Brendon McCullum, won the toss and New Zealand elected to bat first on a bright morning. Martin Guptill and Tom Latham went out in the middle, as New Zealand were aiming for a 3-0 lead before the start of the new year.

For Sri Lanka, it was a good chance to get things back on track, and the onus was on returning Pradeep who took the new ball. Both the openers started slowly and steadily. Guptill took on Chameera’s short one to the cleaners to bring up the first boundary of the match and went on to smack two more in the following over. The visitors introduced Dilshan to the attack early, and the move took an ugly turn as Guptill stroked the first ball to the fence and fetched one more before making it nine for the over.

The host lost their first wicket in the face of Guptill after Dilshan took a smart catch, diving low to his left. Kane Williamson joined Latham at the crease, as the two build a solid 60-run stand. Latham played sensibly, fetching singles and putting those odd balls to the fence. He was undone by Vandersay, after the batter’s mistimed sweep top-edged to fine leg. Vandersay ended the over with one more scalp, as Ross Taylor got an outside edge to the slip. Taylor went back for a duck and the Kiwi’s were three wickets down for 102.

Williamson kept up the good work, guiding his team to a solid total which he had done numerous times this year. He nicely pushed Siriwardana’s flighted ball to the fence to bring up yet another fifty. But the joy was short-lived as Kane slapped a full toss straight to mid-on to lose his stick. Mitchell Santner and Bracewell added fruitful thirties to take the score to 276.

277 looked like a daunting task for a team that stayed on the back-foot throughout the tour, collapsing at crucial stages and giving away wicket without a price. But the visitors had other plans. Danushka Gunathilaka pulled a six off Tim Southee while Tillakaratne Dilshan flicked one to the fence. Gunathilaka was ferocious smacking the ball over the sightscreen and whacking couple of them like a bullet.

The opener brought up his maiden fifty in just the eighth over, and it looked like Sri Lanka are in course for a big win. The stand was finally broken after Gunathilaka handed one to final slip, but the damage was done. He went back for 65 from 45 balls, with seven boundaries and four sixes. The visitors still needed 179 runs from 37 overs. Dilshan scored three successive boundaries of Santner’s third over to bring up his fifty, and the game looked slipping away from New Zealand’s hands.

Sri Lanka kept picking singles and placing those odd boundaries, as the duo of Dilshan and Thirimanne looked well settled. The visitors were left with needing 70 runs from 17 overs when Dilshan fell short of his crease and missed on a well deserved century by nine runs. The visitors never looked in trouble and Thirimanne too, brought up his fifty in style, giving himself a bit of room and fetching two from Santner’s flighted one.

Dinesh Chandimal had a different role to play, picking up singles and giving the strike to Thirimanne, as they got close to the total. Thirimanne pulled a short one from Bracewell to reach the target and register their first win of the tour. New Zealand will have to work a bit on their bowling, as Sri Lankan batters never looked in hot waters. It turned out to be a perfect game to finish an extraordinary cricketing year, as Sri Lanka will live another day to fight it out in the 5-match series.

Brief scores:

New Zealand– 276/8 in 50 overs (K Williamson 59; Chameera 2/38)

Sri Lanka– 277/2 in 46.2 overs (TM Dilshan 91; M McClenaghan 1/39)

Man of the Match: MD Gunathilaka (Sri Lanka)