Tim Seifert’s brilliant 79 not out off 43 balls helped New Zealand race to a small goal of 142 before Sri Lanka’s innings ended by the seamers of New Zealand, led by Adam Milne, who claimed five wickets.
After the suspenseful Super Over match in Auckland, New Zealand tied the series with a game that was, for the most part, incredibly one-sided.
When Sri Lanka was put into bat, they were challenging in the early going, scoring 89 for 2 off 11 overs. But as set hitters Kusal Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva were quickly removed one after the other, the innings started to crumble.
At one point, they appeared set to go for a total in the neighborhood of 180, but instead they were all out for 141 after 19 overs.
New Zealand got going quickly initially thanks to Chad Bowes. With 32 deliveries and nine extra wickets, they successfully batted down the total.
The batting partnership of Perera and de Silva hit 62 runs off 46 balls, giving Sri Lanka a feeling that they would reach another big total. Next up was the in-form Charith Asalanka, followed by the hitter Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga. There was still a tonne of batting left.
Perera, who had been scoring 37 off 26 at the time, was out for 35 after driving a Milne slower ball straight to deep midwicket. De Silva, who had been scoring 37 off 26, was also dismissed for 35 after sending Rachin Ravindra to long off.
In an effort to crash boundaries, the remaining batters also collapsed. In an attempt to knock Henry Shipley over the finish line, Shanaka skied a slog; Hasaranga failed to quite get a James Neesham legcutter past mid-off; and subsequently, Asalanka top-edged a Milne cutter after making 24 out of 19.
Overall, since the 12th over, Sri Lanka has lost eight wickets for 50 runs in a total of 47 balls, with the tail also surrendering quietly.
The 19th over saw Milne only claim Asalanka as his first victim. After bowling two balls, Milne produced a fantastic yorker that smacked off Pramod Madushan’s pads and into the stumps.
The yorker that Dilshan Madushanka caught to conclude Sri Lanka’s innings was even more spectacular because it removed both the middle and off stump. From his four overs, Milne had a haul of 5 for 26. 2 of 26 were made by Ben Lister.
Despite the fact that 142 was never a target that was likely to be a challenge for New Zealand, Seifert’s outstanding hitting made exceptionally easy work of it. Initially, he had little of the strike because Bowes hit seven fours in his 16-ball 31.
Bowes left the game in the fourth over, and Seifert took over. He started by hitting Madushan through point, then in the sixth over, he launched Kasun Rajitha for two sixes over long on.
Seifert maintained throwing sixes, frequently hitting against the wind to go past the tight confines of the University Oval. Both Hasaranga and de Silva were hit for sixes by him on slog sweeps; the first was over midwicket and the second was over deep square leg.
Later, he struck de Silva again with reverse slaps for a total of six, with one of those punches scoring the winning run. Seifert made three fours and a total of six sixes.
Tom Latham, who was his partner in a 106-run partnership that required 68 balls, took a back seat, scoring 20 off 30 to help his team to a comfortable victory.
Match Report: New Zealand 146 for 1 (Tim Seifert 79*, Bowes 31, Rajitha 1-25) beat Sri Lanka (De Silva 37, Milne 5-26, Lister 2-26) by nine wickets