Sachithra pilots Sri Lanka to victory

Sajeewa Jayakody reporting from Dambulla

An Impressive all-round performances by Sachithra Senanayake powered Sri Lanka to a series levelling 36-run win over New Zealand on Duckworth Levis Method in the third and final One Day International of the three-match Dialog Cup Series which ended at Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Man of the match Senanayake, who smashed 14-ball 21 runs in Sri Lanka’s total of 211-8 in 33 over, took two crucial wickets of the Black Caps middle order putting visitors at unease. The impressive all-rounder took a brilliant diving catch in the cover stretching forward to remove hard hitting Luck Ronchi, who looked positive in the middle of the Kiwi innings.

Left arm spinner Rangana Herath was the pick for hosts, as he captured three for 25 in his six over spell.

Earlier, batting first, Sri Lanka made 211-8 in 33 overs. Tillekeratne Dilshan, 36, the experienced opener scored his third fifty (53 off 50 balls) in the series, putting on a solid opening partnership of 90 runs with Mahela Jayawardene, who opened the innings replacing continues failure Dimuth Karunaratne at the top of the order. Dilshan earned the man-of-the-series award for his three half centuries in a row.

Chasing a Duckworth Levis target of 216 in 33 overs, Black Caps were at 126-6 in 25 overs. Last match’s hero, Nathan McCullum was unbeaten on 35 off 19 balls with Jammes Neesham was on 42 in 46 balls when bad light stopped play. The pair had put on an unbroken 63 runs for the seventh wicket before Sri Lanka were declared winners on the Duckworth Levis Method.

Rain experienced before a ball being bowled just after the toss. Black Caps stand-in captain Kyle Mills put Sri Lanka in and match started at 11.30am.

Dilshan made his 33rd half century and third against Kiwis, while Jayawardene fell for a run-a-ball 46.

Both Jayawardene and Dilshan played aggressively. Especially Jayawardene hit his favourite shots over mid-wicket using big bottom hand with free arms. Jayawardene fell for a run-a-ball 46 after putting a solid 90-run partnership for the hosts, when the right hander top edged Nathan McCullum’s second ball giving an easy catch to wicket keeper Luck Ronchi.

After two balls, McCullum struck again, as Kumar Sangakkara was bowled out off a low-pitched delivery, when the inform batsman attempted to pull the ball. Ball clipped Sangakkara’s off stump. The decision was reviwed by the TV umpire as the bails took some time to fall. But Sangakkara, who scored back to back half centuries in Hambantota, was given out for naught.

Tillekeratne Dilshan reached his third fifty in the series in just 45 balls when home team crossed the 100-run mark at the end of 16th over. Mitchell McClenaghan, who was brought into the side instead of Adam Milne, got the prized wicket of Tillekeratne Dilshan, who was caught behind for 50-ball 53 after hitting eight fours, nicking for a full length delivery.

All-rounder Angelo Mathews, who came to bat ahead of specialized batsman Dinesh Chandimal, perished for a golden duck when the right hander tried to drive through the off and edged to the wicket keeper when the total was at 110-4 in 17.5 overs. Since then, Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal played some brilliant cricket shots to prop up the home side before rain interrupted play at 1.15 for the second time.

Match revised for a 33-over game when play started at 3pm for the third time a day. Thirimanne was deceived off Mills’s slow delivery as the left hander caught at mid-off as a soft dismissal for 23 off 28 balls after hitting four fours.

Umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge took his time and raised his dreaded index finger for Chandimal’s lbw decision off right arm seamer James Neesham’s sharp inswinger, which hit right hander’s knee role. Chandimal couldn’t believe and Sri Lanka were struggling losing last recognized pair.

Hosts lost last five wickets for just 63 runs after the solid 90-run opening stand of Dilshan and Jayawardene.

Rangana Herath took charge in the last two overs and helped Sri Lanka reach 200 runs in 32.3 overs with a brilliant shot between point and cover for four.

The left hander had sweet time in the penultimate over off Neesham as the right arm seamer was hammered two fours through point and over cover.

Sachithra Senanayake who has been batting intelligently throughout his career as a reliable tail-ender, smashed the first six of the match in the penultimate ball of the innings and followed it up with a single.

Herath and Senanayake shared a 27-run unfinished stand for the ninth wicket in just 11 balls. The pair hit extremely hard with a sweet timing, in the last two overs.

SCOREBOARD
		
Sri Lanka: 
M.Jayawardene c Ronchi b N. McCullum		46
T. Dilshan c Ronchi b McClenaghan		53 
K. Sangakkara b N. McCullum			00 
L. Thirimanne c Latham b Mills			23 
A. Mathews c Ronchi b McClenaghan		00 
D. Chandimal lbw b Neesham			15 
T. Perera c Latham b Ellis			08 
N. Kulasekara c Mills b Neesham			14 
S. Senanayake not out				21 
R. Herath not out				17 
Extras: (b1, lb3, w9, nb1)			14 
Total (for eight wickets, 33 overs)	       211 

Fall of wickets: 1-91 (Jayawardene), 2-91 (Sangakkara)
		 3-110 (Dilshan), 4-110 (Mathews)
		 5-144 (Thirimanne), 6-146 (Chandimal)
		 7-165 (Perera), 8-184 (Kulasekara) 
Bowling: Mills 6-1-35-1 (w1)
	 McClenaghan 7-0-34-2 (w3)
	 Ellis 6-0-51-1 (w2, nb1)
	 Devcich 3-0-31-0
	 Nicol 2-0-17-0 (w1)
	 N. McCullum 4-0-13-2
	 Neesham 5-0-26-2 (w1)

New Zealand 
(Duckworth-Lewis target 216): 
T. Latham lbw b Senanayake			09 
A. Devcich c Herath b Kulasekara		05 
R. Nicol st Sangakkara b Herath			01
G. Elliott b Herath				03 
C. Munro b Senanayake				01 
L. Ronchi c Senanayake b Herath			23 
J. Neesham not out				42
N. McCullum not out				35 
Extras: (lb1, w6)				07 
Total (for six wickets, 25 overs)	       126 

Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Devcich), 2-17 (Latham)
		 3-21 (Elliott), 4-22 (Munro)
		 5-26 (Nicol), 6-63 (Ronchi)
Bowling: Senanayake 5-1-14-2
	 Kulasekara 4-1-20-1 (w3)
	 Mathews 1-0-4-0
	 Herath 6-0-25-3
	 Dilshan 6-0-31-0
	 Malinga 3-0-31-0 (w3)