Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s coverage of the second T20 International (T20I) between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Eden Park, Auckland. I am Pramod Ananth along with Amit Banerjee and we will be bringing you live updates of the match. New Zealand won the first match an Mount Maunganui by a mere three runs and will look to wrap things up if the second and final match of the series by registering another win. If Sri Lanka go on to lose the match, they will no longer be the No. 1 team in the ICC T20I rankings. But they did show some fight in the first game and a similar approach will see them home in the match and will lead them to a series levelling win. Live Scorecard: New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 2015-16, 2nd T20I at Auckland
Live cricket score New Zealand 58/0 | Overs 4| BATTING: Martin Guptill 42 (16), Kane Williamson 15 (8): And Guptill and Williamson make the Sri Lankans pay for the dropped chance in the first over miserably! The next three overs fetch 50 runs, with Guptill moves to 42 off just 16 balls, with Williamson batting on 15 off eight balls at the end of the fourth over as New Zealand race to 58 for no loss! The road to victory appears to be a super-smooth one for the Black Caps now, with Guptill playing an innings similar to the one in the second ODI at Christchurch (93 off 30 balls)
Live cricket score New Zealand 8/0 | Overs 1| BATTING: Martin Guptill 2 (3), Kane Williamson 5 (3): Isuru Udara starts off with a wide off the first ball. DRIOPPED! Guptill goes for the slog, and mis-hits. The fielders however mix-up at extra-cover just outside the circle, with Perera ultimately failing to complete the catch that could have sent the dangerous Guptill back to the pavilion for a nought!
Live cricket score Sri Lanka 142/8 | Overs 20| BATTING: Angelo Mathews 81 (49), Jeffrey Vandersay 8 (8): FOUR! Vandersay gets his first boundary of the day courtesy a french cut, and a misfield by Elliott at deep fine-leg. Meanwhile, Mathews brings up his highest T20I score after reaching 60 at the end of the 18th over. Mathews survives a close call in the 18th over, managing to ground his bat inside the crease in time after Kane Williamson manages to rattle the stumps with a superb throw! Mathews responds in style in the following delivery, smashing McClenaghan over long-on! Final Over. Mathews smashes a slower-one towards deep point! Consecutive boundaries! Mathews sends the second one towards deep backward-point with a similar shot. Single off the third ball, as Mathews attempts a shot off a wide-pitched delivery, but gets the strike back after the fourth ball! FOUR! Mathews moves to the 80s by pulling the slower short ball towards backward square-leg! Dot off the last as Sri Lanka finish on 142/8 after 50 overs!
Live cricket score Sri Lanka 108/8 | Overs 17| BATTING: Angelo Mathews 56 (37), Jeffrey Vandersay 1 (2): After a quiet over by Elliott, in which the all-rounder concedes only five runs, Mathews hammers Boult all over the park in order to bring the visitors back in contention! SIX! Mathews’ timing is the stuff of dreams as he clears the long-off boundary with utmost ease. Consecutive fours! It’s Mathews and his timing again as he sends the ball darting down the ground, before top-edging the next one towards third man to enter the 40′s. Elliott comes in to bowl his final over of the day, and gets the wicket of Perera! The all-rounder attempts to emulate Mathews, but does not get enough power to the shot as Guptill takes the catch at wide long-on. FIFTY for Mathews, who brings up the milestone with a cheeky upper-cut towards fine third-man. OUT! Elliott takes his FOURTH wicket of the innings, as he foxes Udana with a slower one! Udana prods his bat forward, and lobs the ball up towards Kane Williamson at extra-cover! OUT! Thisara Perera c Martin Guptill b Grant Elliott 6(10), Isuru Udana c Kane Williamson b Grant Elliott 0(2)
Live cricket score Sri Lanka 75/6 | Overs 13| BATTING: Angelo Mathews 27 (22), Thisara Perera 3 (5): OUT! Vithanage aims to clear the boundary straight over Elliott’s head, and mis-times it to get caught by Adam Milne at long-off, as Sri Lanka lose their sixth wicket with more than eight wickets to spare! Meanwhile, Santner finishes his spell, having taken two wickets for 24 runs in four overs. OUT! Kithuruwan Vithanage c Adam Milne b Grant Elliott 1(4)
Live cricket score Sri Lanka 67/5 | Overs 11| BATTING: Angelo Mathews 23 (17), KithuwaranVithange 0 (2): Sri Lanka lose another wicket and this time it is the well set Dilshan for 28. He tries to reverse sweep Elliott only to find the top edge and went straight to McClenaghan at short third man. His wicket is followed by Siriwardana’s, who is out first ball. OUT! Tillakaratne Dilshan c McClenaghan b Elliott 28 (26), Milonda Siriwardana c Boult b Santner 0 (1)
Live cricket score Sri Lanka 57/3 | Overs 9| BATTING: Tillakaratne Dilshan 27 (24), Angelo Mathews 15 (10): Chandimal plays a irresponsible shot to get out as Mitchell Santner strikes in his very first over. Angelo Mathews is the new batsman and will have to build a big partnership with Dilshan. He is looking in good nick, having already smashed Santner for a few big ones. OUT! Dinesh Chandimal c Taylor b Santner 2 (4)
Live cricket score Sri Lanka 37/2 | Overs 6| BATTING: Tillakaratne Dilshan 25 (20), Dinesh Chandimal 0 (0): It’s the end of the powerplay overs and Sri Lanka have lost a couple wickest and going at just over a run-a-ball. They will need to step up and gets some brisk runs in the next few overs. Dilshan has looked in good nick and he will look to make u for his failure in the previous game by scoring big in this one. OUT! Shehan Jayasuriya c Williamson b Milne 3 (10)
Live cricket score Sri Lanka 14/1 | Overs 3| BATTING: Tillakaratne Dilshan 4 (9), Shehan Jayasuriya 1 (3): Brilliant start for New Zealand as Milne bowls Gunathilaka for eight. He was looking in good touch in the first match and New Zealand will be glad to see his back at these early stages. Shehan Jayasuriya is the new batsman for Sri Lanaka. OUT! Danushka Gunathilaka 1 (2) b Milne 8 (6)
Live cricket score Sri Lanka 2/0 | Overs 1| BATTING: Danushka Gunathilaka 1 (2), Tillakaratne Dilshan 1 (4): Sri Lanka off to a quiet start as Trent Bout keeps things tight in the first over. There was an edge off the second delivery that just went wide of Corey Anderson at slips to get Gunathilaka off the mark.
What’s at stake? If Sri Lanka lose this match, they are dethroned as the No. 1 ranked side in T20Is. They have held on to the top spot since the ICC World T20 2016. Sri Lana have lost the Test and ODI series on this tour so far and would dearly love to return home with a series leveling effort at Auckland! Can they do it? We’ll find out in the next three hours or so.
CHANGES: New Zealand have roped in Mitchell Santner and Adam Milne in place of Ish Sodhi and Matt Henry respetively. Sri Lanka have made three changes. They have gotten Kithuwaran Vithange in place of Chamara Kapugedara, Dushmantha Chameera for Suranga Lakmal and finally Isaru Udana finds a place in the starting line-up in place of Nuwan Kulasekara.
Warm-ups done and we’re nearly ready to go at Eden Park! Having a bowl first after winning the toss! #NZvSL ^WN pic.twitter.com/tmyQ1n7Ajw
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) January 10, 2016
Here are the playing XI’s for New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
Teams:
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Corey Anderson, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Luke Ronchi (wk), Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Mitchell McClenaghan, Trent Boult.
Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (c & wk), Danushka Gunathilaka, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Shehan Jayasuriya, Angelo Mathews, Milinda Siriwardana, Kithuwaran Vithange, Thisara Perera, Isaru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Dushmantha Chameera,
TOSS: New Zealand have won the toss and have elected to field first.
New Zealand have dominated over Sri Lanka in the entire tour so far, winnings the Test and One-Day International series. This being the last match of the tour, neither team will want to lose. This will be New Zealand’s final match ahead of the ICC World T220 2016, scheduled to begin in March in India. Sri Lanka will however get another chance to get their combinations right as they play India a three-match T20I series before the World Cup gets underway. READ: New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 2015-16, 2nd T20I at Auckland, Preview
Young Kane Williamson has been entrusted to lead the Kiwis in the series and did a good job in the first match, where he opened the innings with Martin Guptill and scored a half-century. Guptill and Williamson took on the bowlers right from the beginning and got New Zealand off to a flying start. Trent Boult was their star with the ball, finishing with figures of 3 for 21 in his four overs.
For Sri Lanka, their top-order consisting of Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews and Tillakaratne Dilshan have to fire in order to reach a big score.
Squads:
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi (wk), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (c & wk), Dushmantha Chameera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Danushka Gunathilaka, Shehan Jayasuriya, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Sachithra Senanayake, Milinda Siriwardana, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Kithuruwan Vithanage.
Catch Ball-by-ball updates of the 2nd T20I between New Zealand and Sri Lanka here