New Zealand Innings:
In the New Zealand team, who entered the field first, Pin Allen 51 (49), Daryl Mitchell 47 (58), Racine Ravindra 49 (52), Glenn Phillips 39 (42) performed well and were amazing. Will Young also contributed 26 (28) runs. Thus, the New Zealand team scored 274/10 at the end of 49.3 overs.
Debut opener Bowes 14 (15) and captain Tom Latham 5 (17) did not make much of an impact. Sri Lankan bowler Karunaratne took 4/43 wickets. Rajitha and Lagiru Kumara grabbed two wickets each and were amazing.
Mathews 18 (25), Karunaratne 11 (24) and Lagiru Kumara 10 (10) were the only ones who added double digit runs in the Sri Lankan team chasing the target. There was a great commotion as others built the walk as fast as they arrived. Notably, captain Dashun Shana became a golden duck.
Kushal Mendes 0 (16), Pathum Nishanka 9 (10), Asalanga 9 (12) played under pressure and faltered. As a result, the Sri Lankan team scored only 76/10 in 19.5 overs and suffered a crushing defeat by a margin of 198 runs.
MEGA SOFTWARE:
Before this, the last time Sri Lanka faced New Zealand, they scored only 73 runs. Therefore, Sri Lanka have the worst record of being the team to record the lowest score against the same team twice in a row.
The second ODI between Sri Lanka and New Zealand will start on March 28 at Christ Church.