Sri Lanka vs. New Zealand, 2nd T20: Scorecard, Recap and More from Pallekele
Sri Lanka finished the T20 series against New Zealand with a victory in Pallekele, ending a miserable tour on a positive note and an eight-wicket win.
The weather has meant that this was the first of five scheduled matches not to be curtailed or cancelled altogether by rain, and when both teams got the chance to play it was the hosts who prevailed.
They put in the Black Caps to bat first at the top and restricted them to 142 for seven wickets.
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The home side make a shaky start to the chase but, once Kusal Perera and Tillakaratne Dilshan got going, the result was never in doubt.
Perera fell for a 37-ball 57—but by that time Kumar Sangakkara could come in and knock the ball around with ease.
New Zealand will rue their batting—there was no shortage of starts, but the best score came from Luke Ronchi with an unbeaten 34. Off-spinner Ramith Rambukwella, on his debut, bowled a restrictive spell of 4-0-19-1, and ended with the pick of the bowling figures.
Mitchell McClenaghan removing Mahela Jayawardene in his first over gave the tourists hope, but while Dilshan was sedate at first, Perera attacked and made sure the momentum was with Sri Lanka.
The stand-in skipper tried six different bowlers to stem the tide, but only Rob Nicol managed to prise out a wicket, and it was too little, too late.
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs | Mins | Balls |
| HD Rutherford | c †Sangakkara b Kulasekara | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| AP Devcich | c Kulasekara b Mendis | 30 | 36 | 23 |
| NT Broom | c Mendis b Mathews | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| TWM Latham | c Dilshan b Rambukwella | 20 | 34 | 24 |
| C Munro | c Kulasekara b NLTC Perera | 17 | 27 | 19 |
| L Ronchi† | not out | 34 | 48 | 25 |
| NL McCullum | run out (Dilshan/†Sangakkara) | 26 | 26 | 16 |
| RJ Nicol | lbw b Malinga | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| AM Ellis | not out | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Extras | (lb 2) | 2 | ||
| Bowling | Overs | M | R | W |
| SL Malinga | 4 | 0 | 33 | 1 |
| KMDN Kulasekara | 4 | 0 | 31 | 1 |
| AD Mathews | 2 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| RLB Rambukwella | 4 | 0 | 19 | 1 |
| BAW Mendis | 3 | 0 | 20 | 1 |
| TM Dilshan | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| NLTC Perera | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1 |
Sri Lanka's next assignment is a visit to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in December, while New Zealand host the West Indies as their summer begins.
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