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 thumped Sri Lanka by 10 wickets at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Saturday. Matt Henry was declared Man-of-Match for his figures of 3/29.
Winning the toss, New Zealand invited Sri Lanka to bat first.
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Matt Henry drew the first blood for New Zealand by sending 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.
A target of 137 runs, that too for an in-form New Zealand, was going to be a cakewalk and that is what exactly happened. The Black Caps chased down the target in 16.1 overs with all their 10 wickets in hand, courtesy half-centuries by Martin Guptill (73) and Colin Munro (58).
New Zealand will be facing Bangladesh next on June 5, whereas Sri Lanka will lock horns with Afghanistan on June 4.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 136/10 in 29.2 overs (Dimuth Karunaratne 52 not out, Kusal Perera 29, Matt Henry 3/29, Lockie Ferguson 3/22); New Zealand 137/0 in 16.1 overs ( Martin Guptill 73 not out, Colin Munro 58 not out, Suranga Lakmal 0/28)
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