Martin Guptill hits century as New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 36 runs
Tuesday 5 January 2016 09:49, UK
New Zealand sealed the one-day series against Sri Lanka with Martin Guptill's century spearheading a 36-run victory in the fifth and final one-dayer at Mount Maunganui in Tauranga.
Matt Henry's 5-50 bag helped ensure the hosts took a 3-1 series win to go with their 2-0 Test series victory last month.
New Zealand posted 294-5 batting first on Tuesday, with Guptill making 102, before Sri Lanka were all out for 258 with 17 balls left.
Guptill capped a remarkable home season with his tenth ODI century, reaching 102 in 109 deliveries to go with his 79, 93 not out, 30 and 27 earlier in the series.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews, with a brave knock of 95, had set the scene for a cliff-hanging finish when he led his side to 223-5 before the tail folded in six overs for the addition of only 35 runs - the last three going for just six runs in 10 balls.
Mathews won the toss and put the hosts in, and the Kiwis lost Tom Latham in the first over without scoring.
But Guptill and Kane Williamson (61) put on 122 for the second wicket to put the Kiwis in charge before the latter gloved a catch on the sweep.
Ross Taylor (61) put on 81 for the third wicket with Guptill, who was caught by Thisara Perera off Nuwan Kulasekara just after reaching his century.
Taylor brought up his half-century with a six to mid-wicket before also falling to Kulasekara.
Luke Ronchi (37no off 31) and Mitchell Santner (21no off 11) provided some late fireworks for the Kiwis.
Sri Lanka's reply got off to a terrible start - they lost Tillakaratne Dilshan (5), Lahiru Thirimanne (2) and Danushka Gunathilaka (15) cheaply to fall to 33-3.
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But Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal (50) clawed their team back into the game with a 93-run stand before Trent Boult, making his first appearance in the series, dismissed the latter.
After Thisara Perera (15) made a brief appearance, Milinda Siriwardana (39 off 22) and Mathews cracked 62 off 40 to have Sri Lanka at 223-5 with nine overs and five wickets to get the remaining 72 runs.
But when Siriwardana fell to Santner for 39, New Zealand rammed home their advantage and the tail could not support Mathews, who was eighth man out, falling five short of what would have been a deserved century.
Watch the first T20 clash between New Zealand and Sri Lanka live on Sky Sports 2 HD from 2am on Thursday.
