Sri Lanka 290 for 8 (Nisanka 66, Kusal 54, Liyanage 53, Henry 4-55, Santner 2-55) defeated new zealand 150 (Chapman 81, Asitha 3-26, Malinga 3-35, Thikshana 3-35) by 140 runs
New Zealand’s score soon dropped to 48 for 6, then 77 for 7, and although the final rites took some time, Sri Lanka bowled out the opposition for 150 within 30 overs. This was the third one-sided match of the series. New Zealand had won the remaining two.
Asitha’s figures of 3 for 26 were not a swing-bowling masterclass, as she struggled with her lines at times. But it included some spectacular balls, as he achieved significantly more swing than any other bowler in the game. Rachin Ravindra’s leg-stump uprooting ball was brilliant; Asitha swung it towards the left-hander and stopped the ball too late to slip between bat and pad. The shape of his balls remained the same throughout the spell of the new ball. He dismissed Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips twice for ducks in the seventh over.
However, the first ingredients of Sri Lanka’s 140-run victory were fifties from Nissanka and Kusal. Nissanka’s 66 off 42 was unusual. He scored 50 runs in the 31st ball he played, but just as he was completing the run, he got a hamstring strain and left the field at the end of the tenth over. Kusal then replaced him at the crease and saved what had otherwise been an unremarkable tour for him by scoring 54 off 48.
In particular, Nissanka enjoyed playing the short ball. He hit five sixes and six fours in his innings, coming back in the middle to swing some in the 34th over, although he was unable to run or reach particularly outside the off. Kusal hit two sixes and five fours and scored all his runs after the early fielding restrictions ended.
Santner was one of the main architects of Sri Lanka’s middle overs collapse. After 27 overs their score was 155 for 1 (Nisanka had also retired hurt) but in the next seven overs they lost three wickets and scored only 28 runs. They bounced back with the help of a half-century from Liyanaz, who played a clever innings to take the wicket in the bottom half. -Middle order and tail. Liyanaj scored 53 runs in 52 balls before the wicket fell in the last over. He hit five fours – two of which were sixes – but he largely tried to take the game forward and ensure Sri Lanka batted for their 50 overs.
But New Zealand had no answers with Asitha bowling one of the white-ball spells of her career. Chapman saw off the spell of that new ball, and then gained confidence after the powerplay was over, finding the boundary as easily as Nissanka and Kusal had before. He was particularly strong on the off side, hitting all but two of his ten fours on that side of the field.
But because of that early collapse, they never looked like threatening the goal.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior writer for ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf
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