By Srian Obeyesekere
Sri Lanka suffered a humiliating 198-run defeat to New Zealand as they were bundled out for 76 in just 19.5 overs after the hosts had run up 274 off 49-3 overs at Eden Gardens in Auckland to go 1-up in the 3-match series. In what was one of the lowest ODI totals by the former world champions whose lowest is 43 versus South Africa, Sri Lanka’s batting crumbled against the lively pace of 26-year old right armer Henry Shipley who capped only his third ODI appearance with a career best burst of 5 for 31 off 7 overs. All of the Lankan frontline batters flopped with only Angelo Matthews 18 reaching double figures with the highest coming from the lower order bat of Chamika Karunaratne 24 with Lahiru Kumara 10 at the tail being the only other to reach double figures.
Shapely triggered the collapse by bowling Pathum Nissanka for 9 after Nuwanidu Fernando had been run out for 4. His other frontline victims were Kusal Mendis whom he sent back for a duck caught by Blair Tickner and Charith Asalanka for 9 caught behind by Latham which he followed up by sending back the Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka also for a duck removing both batsman in successive deliveries as Sri Lanka slithered to 31 for 5 in 9.4 overs.
New Zealand put into bat, ran up a formidable 274 despite minus the likes of Kane Williamson with Finn Allen top scoring with 51 off 45 hitting 5 boundaries and 2 sixes followed by debutant Rachin Ravindra 49, Darryl Mitchell 47 and Glenn Phillips 39.
Sri Lanka’s Chamika Karunaratne picked 4 for 43. defeat was a blow to Sri Lanka’s prospects of automatic world cup qualification Shipley took the Player of the Match honours.
CHIEF SCORES: New Zealand 274 (49.3 Overs) (Finn Allen 51, Rachin Ravindra 49, Darryl Mitchell 47, Glenn Phillips 39, Chad Bowes 14, Chamika Karunaratne 4/43, Kasun Rajitha 2/38, Lahiru Kumara 2/41, Dasun Shanaka 1/16, Dilshan Madushanka 1/58) Sri Lanka 76 (19.5 Overs) (Chamika Karunaratne 24, Angelo Matthews 18, Lahiru Kumara 10, Henry Shipley 5/31, Darryl Mitchell 2/12, Blair Tickner 2/20)
