New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets, win ODI series 2-0
The Hindu
New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in the third ODI to win the series 2-0.
New Zealand capitalized on another failure by Sri Lanka’s batters and avoided one of its own to win the third one-day international by six wickets in Hamilton on Friday and to take the three-match series 2-0.
After being bowled out for only 76 in the first match — which New Zealand won by 198 runs — Sri Lanka was dismissed for 157 in 41.3 overs as it batted first after winning the toss in Game 3. The second match was abandoned because of rain.
New Zealand also was in trouble early when it lost two wickets in the second over of its innings and was 6-2, then 21-3. But Will Young, who had been out of form with only 30 runs from his last four ODI innings, ground his way back to form with an unbeaten 86 which guided New Zealand to victory with 17.1 overs remaining.
Young and Henry Nicholls (44) shared an unbroken partnership of exactly 100 runs for the fifth wicket.
Like all batters Friday, Young had moments of alarm in his innings and sometimes was tempted to dangle the bat outside off stump. But he persevered and eventually reached his half century from 71 balls, mostly from playing with sound technique rather than trying to hit out recklessly.
“I’m stoked to spend a bit of time in the middle and contribute a bit to the team,” Henry said. “To end up with a series win was pretty special, too.
“It was a bit of a grind out there to be honest. There was some good bowling and patches when they hit their length. It wasn’t always pretty but we got the job done in the end.”