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29 March 2024

New Zealand thrash Lanka with Guptill, Munro blitz

Published
By Cricket Correspondent and Agencies

New Zealand blitzed the second Twenty20 against Sri Lanka in Auckland on Sunday with a whirlwind display by Martin Guptill and Colin Munro to set up a nine-wicket win.

Munro brought up the winning runs with a six to be unbeaten on 50 after 14 balls, the second fastest Twenty20 half-century behind a 12-ball spree by India's Yuvraj Singh against England in 2007.

It was also the fastest 50 by a New Zealander, eclipsing the 20-minute-old record set by Guptill who took 19 balls to get there at the top of the innings.

Guptill was the only wicket to fall in the New Zealand innings, out for 63 off 25 balls with six fours and five sixes, while Munro clouted seven sixes and one four.

It took New Zealand exactly 10 overs to mow down the modest 143-run target with Kane Williamson unbeaten on 32.

New Zealand captain Williamson said it was "pretty special" to see Guptill and Munro flay the bowling.

"I thought it would be a bit of a scrap on that wicket as it was holding up a fraction, but it didn't seem to be a problem for those two guys and they cleared the ropes consistently," he said.

"It was exciting to see."

The victory gave New Zealand a clean sweep of the tour by Sri Lanka, winning the Twenty20s 2-0 to go with their 2-0 domination of the Tests and 3-1 win in the one-dayers.

Sri Lanka's resounding defeat in the Twenty20 matches saw them slip from first to third behind the West Indies and Australia in the world rankings.

As has happened throughout the tour, the Sri Lankan top order failed to click. After being sent in to bat, they were all out for 142 with only Angelo Mathews showing any resistance with an unbeaten 81.

It was Mathews' highest score in the shortest form of the game, easily eclipsing his previous best of 58 against England five years ago.

Tillakaratne Dilshan with 28 was the only other Sri Lankan to reach double figures as the wickets tumbled.
Sri Lanka's downfall was as much a result of poor shot execution - repeated ill-timed slogs - as it was good bowling and fielding by New Zealand.

"We just played bad batting out there," Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal said.

"Thanks to Angelo he put a comfortable total at the end, but I'm really disappointed with the way we played."

The chief destroyer for New Zealand was Grant Elliott with four for 22 in his first game back at Eden Park since his six off the penultimate ball against South Africa to get New Zealand into the World Cup final last year.

Adam Milne and Mitchell Santner, who replaced Matt Henry and Ish Sodhi in the New Zealand line up, took two wickets apiece.

Faced with an undemanding target, Guptill and Williamson starting in rollicking form.

The 50 came up in 22 deliveries and the 100 in 43.

Munro smashes the second fastest 50 in history off just 14 balls as New Zealand plundered 147-1 off 10 overs to thrash Sri Lanka by nine wickets to win the T20 series 2-0.

Guptill's New Zealand record 19-ball fifty was obliterated by Munro who clubbed seven sixes, including the winning hit, as the Black Caps romped to victory with 10 overs to spare.

Vandersay goes for 21 in his second over as Munro clobbers three sixes off the spinner as New Zealand race towards their target. NZ 116-1, 8 overs.

Guptill's blistering knock comes to an end as he gets a faint edge chasing a wide ball. NZ 89-1, 6.4 overs.

Martin Guptill c Chandimal b Perera 63 (25b 6x4 5x6)

Guptill is in awesome touch clobbering Chameera for a flat six over midwicket. NZ 82-0, 6 overs.

Guptill smashes the fastest T20 half century for New Zealand off just 19 balls. NZ 71-0, 5 overs.

The 50 partnership between Guptill and Williamson comes off just 22 balls with Guptill blasting Vandersay for three boundaries and a six. NZ 58-0, 4 overs.

Guptill also gets into the act clubbing two boundaries and a six off Udana. NZ 38-0, 3 overs.

New Zealand get going with Chameera going for 15 in his first over, including two consecutive boundaries off Williamson's blade. NZ 23-0, 2 overs.

Lanka innings

A flurry of boundaries from Mathews who remains unbeaten on a 49-ball 81 helps Sri Lanka recover to 142-8 after being put into bat.

Elliott claimed four for 22 as Sri Lanka's innings failed to gather any momentum losing wickets at regular intervals.

Mathews slams McClenaghan over long-on for his fourth six. SL 128-8, 19 overs.

Elliott claims his fourth wicket as Udana chips to Williamson. SL 103-8, 16 overs.

Isuru Udana c Williamson b Elliott 0 (2b)

Mathews jabs Elliott behind the keeper to complete his third T20 international fifty off 32 balls. SL 103-7, 16 overs.

Thisara perishes failing to clear Guptill on the fence. SL 98-7, 15.2 overs.

Thisara Perera c Guptill b Elliott 6 (10b) 

Big over for Sri Lanka as Boult goes for 16 with Mathews hammering a six and two boundaries. SL 97-6, 15 overs.

Another one goes down as Vithanage fails to clear the man at long off. SL 70-6, 11.4 overs.

Kithuruwan Vithanage c Milne b Elliott 1 (4b)

Sri Lanka are collapsing in a heap as Siriwardana departs for a duck with Boult taking a superb catch. SL 66-5, 10.3 overs.

Milinda Siriwardana c Boult b Santner 0 (1b)

Elliott strikes as Dilshan's attempted switch hit is pouched by McClenaghan. SL 63-4, 9.4 overs/

Tillakaratne Dilshan c McClenaghan b Elliott 28 (26b)

The procession continues with another tame dismissal of skipper Chandimal. SL 39-3, 6.4 overs.

Dinesh Chandimal c Taylor b Santner 2 (4b)

Milne strikes again as Jayasuriya miscues a lofted drive to mid-on. SL 33-2, 5.3 overs.

Shehan Jayasuriya c Williamson b Milne 3 (10b)

Dilshan gets going cracking a couple of boundaries off Milne. SL 24-1, 4 overs.

Milne strikes after being hit for a boundary by Gunatilaka. SL 11-1, 2 overs.

Danushka Gunathilaka b Milne 8 (6b 1x4)

Williamson wins the toss and New Zealand elect to bowl first.

Preview

Sri Lanka's top ranking in the shortest format of the game will be at stake when they take on New Zealand in the second and final Twenty20 international at Eden Park in Auckland on Sunday.

In-form batsman Martin Guptill cracked 58 off 34 balls to set up New Zealand for a tense three-run win in the first Twenty20 international on Thursday.

Sri Lanka had three wickets in hand and required 13 off the last over by Grant Elliott  at Mount Maunganui but could only manage 10 runs as they lost two wickets.

The result put the pressure on Sri Lanka to win on Sunday or they will slip from first to third behind the West Indies and Australia in the world rankings.

While winning the series and keeping the momentum alive for the upcoming assignment against Pakistan would be high on New Zealand’s agenda, getting the team composition right for the World Twenty20 in India would not be far from the team management’s plan.

Mike Hesson, the coach, has said Ross Taylor could be promoted to No.3 to fill the gap created by the absence of Brendon McCullum, who will retire before the multination event.

Taylor has so far batted 12 times at No. 3 in his 65-match career, the last appearance there having come against Bangladesh in November 2013. So far he averages 18 at that slot, and New Zealand has just a few games in its hand to see if Taylor is comfortable with his new role or not.

While Taylor has the cushion of an in-form Guptill and Williamson, Sri Lanka would want the entire top order to come good as early as this game so that it can end the tour, where it has already lost the Test and One-Day International series, on a high and keep its pride as the No.1 T20I side intact.

Teams
(from):

New Zealand
: Kane Williamson (capt), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi (wk), Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor.

Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dinesh Chandimal (capt, wk), Angelo Mathews, Milinda Siriwardene, Chamara Kapugedera, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachithra Senanayake, Dushmantha Chameera, Jeffrey Vandersay, Isuru Udana. Kithruwan Vithanage, Shehan Jayasuriya.