Sri Lanka prepare for New Zealand challenge with unchanged T20I squad
Sri Lanka have named a strong 16-member squad led by Charith Asalanka for a six-match white-ball series involving three T20Is followed by three ODIs, against New Zealand.
The Black Caps continued their great form and bundled out Sri Lanka for a mere 136. Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry were the star bowlers for the Kiwis as both of them took 3 wickets each. Sri Lanka could not counter the pace and swing bowling of New Zealand and caved in for a paltry 136.
Winning the toss, New Zealand elected to field first against Sri Lanka at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Saturday.
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Matt Henry was the first bowler to strike when he sent Lahiru Thirimanne (4) back to the dressing room with the scorecard reading just 4 runs. Though a 42-run partnership between Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera for the second wicket steadied the Lankan ship for a while, Henry struck again to send Perera back to the pavilion for 29 – second highest from the Lankan side – and opened the floodgates.
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After this, wickets fell consistently and Sri Lanka were wrapped up for 136. Karunaratne played a resilient knock of 52 not out. None of the other batsmen could dig in the heels to support him. For the Kiwis – who were bowling without Tim Southee – Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry ended with the figures of 3/22 and 3/29 respectively.
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