Sri Lanka 6 for 0 v New Zealand 74 for 7 (Southee 21*, Dananjaya 2-9, Kulasekara 2-13) Match abandoned
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New Zealand's reception on their tour of Sri Lanka was cold and rainy,
as the hosts' seamers left their batting in disarray on a stop-start
evening marred by heavy showers that ultimately sealed the game's fate.
These showers also saved the visitors from defeat; just two overs after
Sri Lanka had kept New Zealand to 74 in an already truncated fixture,
the rain again caused an interruption that proved terminal.
In his first match as Sri Lanka's full-time T20 captain, Angelo Mathews
hoped for some assistance for his bowlers in wet conditions and he
wasn't disappointed. The discipline with which his bowlers bowled in the
first half of the innings set up the game for Sri Lanka.
Mathews paved the way with a maiden first up, moving the ball both ways,
getting some early swing and beating Rob Nicol's early attempts to
clear the in-field. Kulasekara followed suit, the only aberration early
on being a smashed four through cover by opener Tom Latham. The batsman
perished next ball, swinging, and missing, a straight delivery and
despite wickets in hand, the innings stagnated. Only 16 runs came in the
Powerplay, the lowest for New Zealand in a T20 international.
The Sri Lanka seamers maintained tight lines, bowled mostly just short
of a good length, beat the bat and cramped the batsmen as they tried to
make space and push on. Brendon McCullum, still not set, charged out in a
failed attempt to slog Kulasekara and skied an easy catch. Even as
Mathews kept one end quiet, he brought on Shaminda Eranga who trapped
Nicol in front with an inswinger in his first over. Another bowling
change, Thisara Perera, was a touch fortunate to have James Franklin
caught down the leg side to make it 18 for 4. A 38-ball boundary drought
was broken by BJ Watling but Ross Taylor's nick to the keeper in the
ninth over while trying to cut Perera left the visitors in a deep hole.
A 70-minute rain interruption gave them brief respite, and a reduction
in overs - to 14 a side - spurred the lower order to chase quick runs.
Andrew Ellis pulled Perera for a flat six over deep midwicket before
Southee tore into Eranga to lend a bit of a respectability to New
Zealand's score in a truncated game. Bowling the penultimate over,
Eranga doled out length and Southee used power, and some cheekiness when
he shuffled across to glance one fine, to take the bowler for 16 runs.
Kulasekara, though, conceded just three off the final over to ensure his
team walked back on a high, with not much for their batsmen to scale
down. But the rain was to deny them.
Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Siddhartha Talya
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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