| 1W | ||||
| 1W | ||||
| 1W | ||||
| 1W | ||||
| 1W | ||||
Scorer: @Thilak_Rama | Commentator: Deivarayan Muthu
10.20pm That is that. New Zealand go 1-0 up in Mount Maunganui. Martin Guptill, returning from injury, led the way for the hosts with a rollicking hundred. Kane Williamson matched Guptill shot for shot before chopping on for 76. Ross Taylor then helped himself to a fifty and James Neesham nearly broke the record for the fastest ODI fifty, but NZ ran out of the balls in the end. The allrounder marked his return with five sixes in an over of Thisara Perera.
Sri Lanka then made a fist of their 372 chase with Kusal Perera's hundred, but a rapidly risking asking rate was too much to overcome. Do stick around for the presentation.
Guptill, Man of the Match: Happy with it. First game back. The step up and intensity played its part. Good recovery day hopefully tomorrow. I've worked hard to return from injury. Everything has settled down now. I played club cricket and for Auckland and back in.
Lasith Malinga, SL captain: We did not deliver wicket-taking balls with the ball. It's a good batting wicket, but the bowlers struggled. We have to come back strongly in the next game. We need to use the variations on this wicket. All the players realise that we're not bowling well. Batting, I'm happy, we put up good partnerships.
Kane Williamson, NZ captain: Good surface and the outfield was so rapid. The wind factor as well. A nice win. Two competitive sides came out and played good cricket. The effort was there in the field but the ball kept flying. Sri Lanka were outstanding and put us under pressure in 90% of the chase. Guptill is a world-class player and pushed that total above par. Neesham and Taylor took the total to an area of strength. It was a match-changing contribution from Neesham. We were staring at 330 but Neesh took us to 370. A lot of contributions from everyone.
That is all we have for you from this game. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did bringing it to you. This is Deivarayan Muthu signing off on the behalf of Saurabh Somani and Thilak Ram. Goodbye and good night
SL Malinga b Henry 11 (7b 0x4 1x6) SR: 157.14
Shah Safeer: "What a splendid comeback performance by Jimmy Neesham. I always believe he has a good future for NZ"
While the opener smote his 14th ODI hundred, the allrounder made an impactful return with both bat and ball
He couldn't make it six in a row, but his unbeaten 47 off 13 balls launched New Zealand to 371 for 7 in Mount Maunganui
The newest Sri Lanka captain says that the time to rebuild is over, with the 2019 World Cup looming
Under a new leader, Sri Lanka will look to make amends after losing 75% of all their ODIs since 2017
