NZ v SL 5th ODI Review: Guptill, Henry ensures a series win

Skipper Brendon McCullum was still out with a sore back while Trent Boult replaced Mitchell McClenaghan in the playing eleven. Angelo Mathews won the toss and elected to field. Sri Lanka tasted success early on, as Pradeep bowled slightly outside off stump and got the nick of Tom Latham in the very first over. Both Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson went about their business, chipping singles and smacking the odd ones. The duo started slowly but thanks to some ordinary bowling by the visitors, New Zealand reached the fifty mark in the tenth over.

Guptill swept Milinda Siriwardana for a boundary and brought up his fifty in the 19th over. Williamson kept his calm and played a beautiful inside out shot, lofting the ball over the covers and followed it up with a single to get to fifty. It was Tillakaratne Dilshan who got Williamson out in the  24th over. It was a poor delivery from the part-time spinner, too short and down the leg but the batter ended up gloving it to the keeper. Guptill didn’t let things go out of hands and pulled a massive six off Siriwardana.

He thwacked one right over Pradeep’s head for a six and was lucky to get a thick edge over the third man boundary in the next over to register his 10th century in ODI cricket. The explosive batter soon got out and Nicholls followed him shortly. It was left to Taylor to guide New Zealand to a top flight and he did it in style, hammering Kulasekara for a maximum to bring up his half century in the 44th over. Luke Ronchi’s 31-ball 37 and Mitchell Santner’s 11-ball 21, which includes two big sixes in the last over, guided the hosts to 294/5 in 50 overs.

Sri Lanka had their task sorted, they needed 295 to level the series and two slips were in place, as in-form Gunathilaka took strike. Trent Boult removed Dilshan in the third over while Matt Henry did well to see the back of Thirimanne. Adam Milne kept up the heat with his express deliveries. Dinesh Chandimal survived a 149km/hr delivery from Milne and Gunathilaka did well to play out the 147km/hr one. But the batters stay was cut short in the enxt over, with Henry picking up  Gunathilaka to check the score card at 33/3.

Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews didn’t let the host make further inroads and kept up with the asking rate. Chandimal soon got out after reaching his fifty, that saw him plunder four boundaries and a maximum but more importantly kept Sri lanka in the hunt. The visitors needed 135 runs from 16 overs at the time when Perera failed to clear the ropes and got out to Milne.

Skipper Mathews was in no mood to give it away, jumping down the track and pulling off lethal short ones to stretch the score further. Mathews was the man standing between the trophy and the Kiwi’s, as he kept fighting it out but saw four wickets falling within a span of 11 runs, as the asking rate jumped to 9.33.

Henry Nicholls took a smart catch to send the skipper back on 95, as New Zealand smelled victory. The next two wickets fell cheaply and that marked the end of the match. The visitors recovered from a horror start and the 93-run stand between Chandimal and Mathews did breathe some hope but the Kiwi’s never gave up and clinched a 3-1 series victory over the visitors. Henry’s five wickets and some good catching ensured a win and Sri Lanka will have some time now to review their performance.

Brief Scores:

New Zealand- 294/5 in 50 overs (Guptill 102; Kulasekara 3/53)

Sri Lanka- 258 in 47.1 overs (Mathews 91; Henry 5/40)

Man of the match:  MJ Henry (New Zealand)