1st ODI
Sri Lanka 188 (47.0 ov)
New Zealand 191/3 (21.0 ov)
New Zealand won by 7 wickets (with 174 balls remaining)
Sri Lanka would have thought of turning their fortunes around in the ODIs after losing both the Tests and would have banked on the absence of New Zealand's pace spearheads Tim Southee and Trent Boult. To add to that, Kane Williamson was ruled out of the first ODI with a knee niggle. But Matt Henry reduced the visitors to 27 for 5, and even though they went on to post 188, their hopes of defending it were quashed by a merciless opening stand of 108 in 10.1 overs between Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill. New Zealand chased it down easily thereafter, in 21 overs, despite losing the openers and Tom Latham.
It was Henry's opening spell of 7-1-26-4 that threw Sri Lanka off track after they opted to bat, before fifties from Milinda Siriwardana and Nuwan Kulasekara pushed the score past 150 but they were eventually bowled out in 47 overs. Henry finished with 4 for 49 and Doug Bracewell's 3 for 37 put the brakes on Sri Lanka's late charge, before the hosts' top order led them to their seventh win against Sri Lanka from their nine ODIs played in the last 12 months.
Milne started with a dangerous combination of precision and pace, regularly clocking in more than 145kmh, and had Danushka Gunathilaka caught behind in the third over even though New Zealand had to use a review after the umpire failed to pick the outside edge. And once Tillakaratne Dilshan top-edged Henry to midwicket, the pacer took three more in seven deliveries. Thirimanne's slow start ended when Henry swung the ball in to trap him lbw. He then pitched the next ball shorter and extracted Mathew's outside edge with some outswing to second slip where Tom Latham took a low catch.
With only four more runs added to the score, Henry also made Dinesh Chandimal poke outside off for another catch to the slip cordon and Sri Lanka had lost half their side. To avoid a complete collapse, Siriwardana pulled things back with the lower order. He first found a useful partner in Chamara Kapugedera for more than half an hour to score 38 runs together. Kapugedera defended patiently for most of his 24-ball stay before he gave a straightforward catch to cover.
Kulasekara and Siriwardana combined at 65 for 6 to stage a comeback with the biggest partnership of the innings - 98 runs. As the balls became older, the duo hardly faced any troubles in rotating the strike and Siriwardana was also helped by debutant Henry Nicholls, who dropped the left-handed batsman on 10 at deep midwicket.
Kulasekara displayed his intent to gather boundaries right from the start. He dispatched Milne in the 23rd over for a six to the midwicket boundary and hammered more boundaries whenever opportunities arose. A slog-sweep against Mitchell Santner and a cover drive drilled in consecutive overs frustrated New Zealand further.
Siriwardana, playing his ninth ODI, collected quick runs by using the pull effectively and also unfurled some crunchy cover drives during his career-best score to marshall the stand and the innings. Kulasekara nearly caught up with Siriwardana by bringing up his fourth ODI fifty with his fourth six but both batsmen were dismissed soon after in quick succession. Once Siriwardana was removed by Bracewell, Kulasekara edged one off Mitchell McClenaghan for Luke Ronchi to complete a stunning one-handed catch. The last-wicket pair of Suranga Lakmal and Dushmantha Chameera vexed the hosts a little more before Bracewell struck again.
McCullum and Guptill went about the chase in usual fashion - attack irrespective of the opposition and target. They stamped their authority by smashing nine runs from the first over and wreaked havoc to cross 100 before the first Powerplay could end. McCullum made room consistently to bludgeon drives and unleash his trademark short-arm pulls, while Guptill relied more on drives and timing, instead of brute force. They punished the bowlers the most from the fourth to ninth overs by hammering 80 runs with the help of 11 fours and four sixes, with no bias to any particular part of the ground.
Mathews brought himself on in the seventh over and McCullum pulled him for six first ball. Ajantha Mendis came on for the next over and McCullum dispatched three more fours to complete his 23-ball fifty. Guptill also awakened his force in the next over; he came out of the crease for a consecutive four and six against Siriwardana. McCullum eventually fell to a leading edge skied to backward point but that could only delay the result, not change it.
Guptill also brought up his 39-ball fifty and accumulated another 22 runs only in boundaries before holing out to long-off, only four balls after Latham was bowled for 18. With only 25 more needed, Nicholls scored 23 on his home ground and finished things off with back-to-back fours.
2nd ODI
Sri Lanka 117 (27.4 ov)
New Zealand 118/0 (8.2 ov)
New Zealand won by 10 wickets (with 250 balls remaining)
Another calamitous Sri Lanka collapse gave way to a spectacular 30-ball 93 by Martin Guptill, as New Zealand crushed Sri Lanka by 10 wickets, running down the required 118 in 8.2 overs. Sri Lanka's humiliation was over before scheduled lunch, and the entire game lasted only 36 overs.
With a paltry target to chase, Guptill was brutal from the outset. He collected four first ball after his hook shot burst through leg gully's hands, then clobbered 27 off one Dushmantha Chameera over, and 26 from legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay's first over in ODIs.
The innings was almost a blur. He hit eight sixes and nine fours, meaning 60 per cent of the balls he faced disappeared to the boundary. His fifty off 17 balls is a New Zealand record. He might have threatened AB de Villiers' fastest hundred - off 31 balls - had Sri Lanka got a few more runs for him to gun down.
It had been Matt Henry and Mitchell McClenaghan that allowed Guptill to bat so freely, as they took seven cheap wickets between them. New Zealand's attack was probing and well-disciplined, without quite being extraordinary. On this day, that was all that was required. Adam Milne was left out with a bruised heel, meaning three frontline quicks were out of action for the hosts, yet they dismissed the opposition inside 28 overs. Henry was rapid and incisive again, taking 4 for 33. McClenaghan got good carry and a little movement from a shorter length, to claim 3 for 32.
The first sign Guptill was about to produce one of his special innings, was the head-down strike high over long-on, to Nuwan Kulasekara's first delivery in the second over of the innings. Guptill continued to launch every kind of bowler Sri Lanka sent at him both down the ground and square of the wicket. In the Chameera over that went for 27, he had first deposited the bowler behind the sightscreen, then carved him over the rope in the arc between third-man and point without remorse.
Guptill missed the world record for fastest fifty, thanks eventually to the use of the yorker by Nuwan Kulasekara. With the score already 71 off five overs, Vandersay came into the attack on debut, and had five deliveries smoked to the fence. Of the three sixes in that over, the 107m behemoth over long-on was particularly stunning.
New Zealand soon had a hundred runs by the seventh over, and the entire match was reminiscent of their demolition of England during the World Cup. On that occasion, Brendon McCullum had been the man launching balls into orbit. Incredibly, he had no part in this breakneck chase, having injured his back making a diving stop at deep square leg earlier on.
Sri Lanka's batting was arguably worse than their bowling. Two days ago, a 98-run seventh-wicket stand had provided brief respite from the tumble of wickets, but the visitors mustered no such mettle on Monday. The most substantial partnership of this innings was 25. Were it not for some clean hitting from Kulasekara, Sri Lanka may not have made triple-figures. He was the top-scorer, with 19 runs.
They were tied down by New Zealand's fielding, which was often sublime to the point of being excessive. Mitchell Santner took a superb catch at cover, Guptill created a run out with a diving stop in the gully region, and the ground fielding was exceptional throughout. McCullum's back injury flaring up was the result of crashing hard into the advertising hoardings, in order to save one run.
Sri Lanka's openers appeared to have embraced a more aggressive approach after the Boxing Day debacle, but soon died by the sword they attempted to slash New Zealand with. Tillakaratne Dilshan was caught at first slip after he charged at Henry and suddenly chose to check his shot. Danushka Gunathilaka was out a few overs later, blasting an overpitched delivery to the right of cover, where Santner completed a spectacular diving catch.
In between, Lahiru Thirimanne had carved a wide McClenaghan ball straight to third man, to collect his second successive score of one. And for the second time in two games, Sri Lanka's top three were dismissed inside the Powerplay.
Angelo Mathews showed glimpses of good form in his 22-ball knock, memorably clipping Doug Bracewell through midwicket for four. But Bracewell quickly nailed Dinesh Chandimal in front of the stumps with an indipper, before New Zealand switched to the legside short-ball plan they have been using against Mathews all tour. Mathews awkwardly fended at a McClenaghan ball at his ribs, then next delivery, gloved a catch to the wicketkeeper. At his dismissal, Sri Lanka were 56 for 5 off 15 overs.
Milinda Siriwardana and Chamara Kapugedara were out in the same over - Siriwardana nailing a short delivery straight to point, and Kapugedara was run out after a mix up that would normally be called catastrophic, but in the context of this collapse, was merely unfortunate.
Kulasekara played some fine strokes for the second innings in a row to make something out of this innings, but quickly ran out of partners as the tail fell as meekly as the batsmen. He was the last man out, blasting another ball to cover only for Tom Latham to take a sharp catch above his head.
3rd ODI
Sri Lanka 277 for 2 (Dilshan 91, Thirimanne 87*, Gunathilaka 65) beat New Zealand 276 for 8 (Williamson 59, Santner 38, Chameera 2-38) by eight wickets
Three Sri Lanka rookies set the team's ODI series alight before Tillakaratne Dilshan's slow-burn 91 provided the substance of their chase of 277. Sri Lanka's eight-wicket victory, achieved with 22 balls to spare, will bring some joy to a tour that had largely been disappointing so far. The apparent ease of the win, and the bright hands played by Danushka Gunathilaka, Jeffrey Vandersay and Dushmantha Chameera will instill a little hope, for the short and long term.
Dilshan's sage innings was perhaps more vital to Sri Lanka's win, but it had been Gunathilaka's 65 from 45 that had inspired the chase. Having fallen cheaply in each of his first two ODI innings, his off-side game was purring almost from the outset on a slow Nelson pitch. Chameera's pace continued to envenom the attack on a breakthrough tour for him. He picked up the game's best figures of 2 for 38, while legspinner Vandersay made a crucial double-strike to rein New Zealand in, in their 18th over. Lahiru Thirimanne's 87 not out - the last in Sri Lanka's list of encouraging performances - saw the chase home.
New Zealand's batsmen will perhaps ponder wasted starts, after five made 30 but only Kane Williamson made a half-century. Perhaps even more worrying will be their injury list. Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan were both seen hobbling off the field during the chase. Brendon McCullum had also missed this game with back stiffness - Williamson leading in his stead. The result brings their 12-match ODI winning streak at home to an end.
Gunathilaka began with a three through cover point, and would cream five square fours on the off side. There were also four sixes - one smoked powerfully down the ground off Doug Bracewell, and two more hooked into the grass banks beyond deep square leg. With little movement from the deck for New Zealand's quicks, Williamson dismantled the slip cordon to strengthen the off side, but Gunathilaka continued to pierce the ring.
The innings was memorable for his stillness at the crease, the time he seemingly had to play even Adam Milne's quick deliveries, as well as the speed of the ball off his blade. Sri Lanka sped to 50 in the sixth over. They were still traveling at close to eight runs an over when he guided a ball off the face of the bat to wide slip, in the 13th over.
That rapid start would prove crucial for Thirimanne, who was baited outside the off stump for the first few overs of his innings. New Zealand fed his favoured cover drive, but packed the cover region with fielders, who stopped many of those shots. With the required rate so low, he could afford to be 4 runs off 17 balls. When Thirimanne eventually found the gaps, and his timing, he progressed quickly enough, finishing with a strike rate of 84.
Dilshan's 91 off 92 balls was forged of the nous and restraint typical of his later years. He was content to feed Gunathilaka the singles while the young batsman attacked, then reclaimed the reins for the chase while Thirimanne spluttered through the early part of his innings. Each of Dilshan's nine fours came through the leg side. He was so untroubled, a march to triple figures almost seemed certain until he ran himself out, attempting a non-existent single to backward square leg, then falling short of his crease when Thirimanne sent him back.
Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal completed the chase as New Zealand's quicks faltered. They had been guilty of bowling too short on a pitch that did not provide as much bounce as the surface in Christchurch had. New Zealand's lack of a front-line spinner was also somewhat exposed. Mitchell Santner and Williamson bowled 18 overs between them, but were easily defused.
Earlier, Chameera had had Martin Guptill caught at point for 30 and, with McCullum out, the rest of New Zealand's innings was sober in comparison to the eruptions at Christchurch. Williamson was fluent as ever, memorably making room to cream Angelo Mathews in the arc between backward point and cover for three consecutive boundaries in the 14th over, as he and Tom Latham put on 60 for the second wicket. But Vandersay soon had Latham caught sweeping, beat Ross Taylor's outside edge next ball, then had him caught at slip, to engineer Sri Lanka's first major advance in the match.
Through the middle overs, Sri Lanka found ways to make regular dents. Chameera bowled Henry Nicholls off an inside edge in the 28th over. Having cruised to his seventh 50-plus score in ten innings, Williamson miscued a Milinda Siriwardana full toss to mid-on. Luke Ronchi's poor stretch with the bat then continued, when his top-edged pull finished in the hands of deep square leg. Having been placed at 102 for 3 in 18 overs, New Zealand found themselves 192 for 6 in 38 overs.
Mathews chose to bowl his attacking young bowlers out before the death, and though neither took any late wickets, Chameera did effect another dismissal. Mitchell Santner's innings had just begun to gain momentum, when, having missed a Chameera short ball that thudded into his thighs, he took off indecisively for a single, then turned back. He was caught short of the crease as Chameera hit the stumps with an under-arm throw.
Joined at 215 for 7 Bracewell then batted sagely with Milne, to put on 42 before Tim Southee's 18 not out from 4 deliveries raised New Zealand to 276. That score would prove at least 25 too few. Of the six ODIs at Saxton Oval now, five have been won by the chasing side.
4th ODI
New Zealand 75/3 (9/24 ov)
Sri Lanka
No result
A 24-over match had begun after an initial three-hour-and-forty-minute rain delay, but the teams could only get through nine overs before bad weather returned to wash out play in Nelson. New Zealand had moved to 75 for 3 in that time, with Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor having provided rapid innings.
Spectators arriving at the ground as play began were at least treated to a glimpse of the themes that have defined the series so far. Guptill launched three sixes off Dushmantha Chameera to plunder 26 runs off the third over of the innings. Then Sri Lanka struck back. Tom Latham was out nicking Thisara Perera to the wicketkeeper, then Guptill himself was nailed on the boot by a swinging Nuwan Kulasekara yorker that was headed for middle stump.
Guptill gone, Angelo Mathews brought Chameera back into the attack, and was rewarded with the wicket of Kane Williamson. Aiming a leg-side shot, Williamson was through the stroke too early. The leading edge carried to the bowler in his follow-through.
Taylor had blasted three leg-side fours off legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay - who was visibly struggling to contend with the slippery ball - when the rain returned in force. It eased to a drizzle over the next 30 minutes, but now with more than four hours lost to the weather in total, the umpires had no choice but to abandon the game.
The series remained 2-1 to New Zealand with one match to play. The teams will move to Mt. Maunganui for that encounter, scheduled for Tuesday.
5th ODI
New Zealand 294/5 (50.0 ov)
Sri Lanka 258 (47.1 ov)
New Zealand won by 36 runs
Martin Guptill's measured tenth ODI hundred helped drive New Zealand to 294 for 5, but it was fast bowler Matt Henry, in his third outstanding turn in the series, who clinched the match and the series for New Zealand with 5 for 40.
Sri Lanka had been in sight of their target, with 58 required from 40 balls, before Henry struck thrice in ten deliveries to swing the match definitively in New Zealand's favour. He first rushed Chamara Kapugedara with a waist-high short ball, which the batsman could only top-edge to fine leg. Then next over, Henry delivered a head-high bouncer just outside off stump, which Angelo Mathews dragged to the deep square-leg fielder, to get out on 95. Sri Lanka's great hope now dismissed, Henry also removed Dushmantha Chameera in that over. When Nuwan Kulasekara holed out at the start of the 48th over, Sri Lanka fell 36 runs short of the hosts, who took the series 3-1.
Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson had also produced fine supporting innings for Guptill, contributing 61 apiece, while Trent Boult took 3 for 43 in his first game of the series. Mathews had helped resurrect the chase from 3 for 33, but though he had some support from Dinesh Chandimal, who hit 50, and Milinda Siriwardana, who struck 39 from 22 balls, he did not find a partner with whom to wrest the advantage for Sri Lanka.
It had seemed an unlikely pursuit from the early overs, in which the required rate had also climbed. Boult made the first dent in Sri Lanka's innings, but it may be fair to say that Tillakaratne Dilshan was equally complicit in his dismissal. Boult angled balls across Dilshan from around the wicket, but he still attempted an over-the-shoulder scoop in the third over. Dilshan only managed to send the ball floating to the wicketkeeper, off the edge. Lahiru Thirimanne played the ball onto his stumps next over, to give Henry his first scalp, before Danushka Gunathilaka mis-hit a lofted drive off Henry to Ish Sodhi, who took a good catch backpedaling from mid-on.
Mathews and Chandimal then rebuilt sagely after those losses, but their pursuit of singles and twos was hindered by another sublime New Zealand fielding performance. The hosts made sprawling saves in the infield and on the fence, and perhaps their only fault was missing the stumps with their throws. They had at least two opportunities to have Mathews out for less than fifty, but could not effect direct hits.
Chandimal departed attempting a heave over the legside after the required rate had crept above eight. His 65-ball 50 had helped give Sri Lanka a platform, but they required acceleration. Siriwardana provided that for a while, launching two leg-side sixes off Adam Milne in one over. He even reverse-slapped Mitchell Santner for four, but the spinner hit back to have Siriwardana caught at deep square leg in the same over.
Mathews' running was characteristically chaotic, but his bating was serene. He took smart runs into the outfield while Sri Lanka rebuilt, but also made calculated srikes, which were often perfectly executed. Mathews ran at the seamers often, and generally smoked them down the ground. The midwicket region was also productive for him. Mathews' dismissal was a double-blow, because not only had he fallen to the short ball yet again this tour, but it was also another score of 90-odd - this one particularly unfulfilling, as it came in a series defeat.
Earlier, there were signs of Guptill preparing for another assault in the Powerplay, but for most of his 102 off 109 on Tuesday, Guptill sought to accumulate, instead of accosting. It was against Thisara Perera that his innings eased into gear. Guptill flayed Thisara through the covers in the fourth over, then collected a high, straight six and two consecutive square boundaries off the bowler before the end of the Powerplay.
When the field relaxed, with New Zealand at 55 for 1 after 10 overs, Guptill and Williamson quickly established a pattern of collecting risk-free runs into the outfield. The seam movement and carry that Mathews had hoped for at the toss did not materialise, and Nuwan Pradeep was the only bowler to get any movement off the deck. Once that disappeared, Guptill and Williamson both began hitting short balls in well in front of square, which suggested the surface was not particularly quick either.
Williamson was serene as ever at the crease, inching towards his eighth fifty in 12 innings as Sri Lanka introduced spin via Tillakaratne Dilshan and Siriwardana. Guptill himself moved to his third half-century in the series with a swept four off Siriwardana in the 19th over; Williamson got to the milestone in the 22nd. Their stand grew to 122 before something of a freak dismissal ended Williamson's stay two overs later. He aimed a swivel-pull off a short leg-side delivery from Dilshan, but managed only to glove it, then bounce it off his thigh pad towards wicketkeeper Chandimal, who snatched it low to the ground.
Guptill progressed in much the same fashion alongside Ross Taylor, striking the occasional boundary off the bad balls, but otherwise happy to exploit the vacant green spaces. There were two sixes off his bat in the middle overs - one over deep midwicket and a flat-batted strike over the long-off boundary. He went on to bring up his century with an edged four through vacant slips.
Guptill departed soon after, mistiming a hoick to long-on off Kulasekara, but by now Taylor had shaken off his poor form. He and Luke Ronchi began the death-overs charge - Taylor favouring the deep midwicket area - after Henry Nicholls had holed out for 2.
With six wickets still in hand after the 45th over, New Zealand might have hoped for a brutal finish, but those expectations were tempered by Taylor's departure, slogging Kulasekara to the square-leg fielder. Excellent death bowling from Kulasekara crimped the flow of boundaries, and Pradeep bowled well in support until the final over, where he leaked 16 runs, including two Santner sixes from the last three balls. Kulasekara was the best of Sri Lanka's bowlers, carried through by experience to figures of 3 for 53, though he still hasn't recovered his lost swing.
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