New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by six wickets to win the ODI series 2-0
Will Young’s 86 not out followed a brilliant performance from the bowlers as New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by six wickets with 103 balls to spare in the final ODI of the three-match series here on Friday. Young scored an unbroken 100-run fifth wicket partnership with Henry Nicholls (44 not out) during his 113-ball 11-ball unbeaten innings to give the team a 2–0 series win. New Zealand won the first match of the series by 198 runs while the second match was washed out due to rain.
New Zealand chased down the target in 32.5 overs after bowling out Sri Lanka for 157 in 41.3 overs on Friday. Chasing the target, New Zealand also lost two wickets for six runs in the second over. Sri Lanka got off to a good start with Lahiru Kumara (2/39) taking the wickets of Chad Bowes (one) and Tom Blundell (four). The team’s score was 21 runs in the seventh over when Kasun Rajita (one wicket for 44 runs) removed Daryl Mitchell (six runs). Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka (1/25) kept New Zealand captain Tom Latham (8 runs) bowled in the 15th over to keep the team’s hopes alive.
After this, however, Young found a good partner in Nicholls, and both took an aggressive approach after playing cautiously. Nicholls gave the team the victory by hitting a four off Chamika Karunaratne. Sri Lanka once again got off to a poor start in the first ODI of the series, getting bowled out for just 76 runs. The team lost three wickets for 18 runs in the eighth over.
Opener Pathum Nissanka played an innings of 57 runs but could not get support from the other end. When he was run out in the 24th over, the team had lost the sixth wicket for 100 runs. Shanaka (31) and Karunaratne (24) took the team’s score past 150. Matt Henry, Henry Shipley and Daryl Mitchell took three wickets each for New Zealand. In this, Henry gave only 14 runs in his 10 overs.
