New Zealand’s reception on their tour of Sri Lanka was cold and rainy, as the hosts’ seamers left their batting in disarray on a stop-start evening marred by heavy showers that ultimately sealed the game’s fate. These showers also saved the visitors from defeat; just two overs after Sri Lanka had kept New Zealand to 74 in an already truncated fixture, the rain again caused an interruption that proved terminal.
In his first match as Sri Lanka’s full-time T20 captain, Angelo Mathews hoped for some assistance for his bowlers in wet conditions and he wasn’t disappointed. The discipline with which his bowlers bowled in the first half of the innings set up the game for Sri Lanka.
Mathews paved the way with a maiden first up, moving the ball both ways, getting some early swing and beating Rob Nicol’s early attempts to clear the in-field. Kulasekara followed suit, the only aberration early on being a smashed four through cover by opener Tom Latham. The batsman perished next ball, swinging, and missing, a straight delivery and despite wickets in hand, the innings stagnated. Only 16 runs came in the Powerplay, the lowest for New Zealand in a T20 international.
The Sri Lanka seamers maintained tight lines, bowled mostly just short of a good length, beat the bat and cramped the batsmen as they tried to make space and push on. Brendon McCullum, still not set, charged out in a failed attempt to slog Kulasekara and skied an easy catch. Even as Mathews kept one end quiet, he brought on Shaminda Eranga who trapped Nicol in front with an inswinger in his first over. Another bowling change, Thisara Perera, was a touch fortunate to have James Franklin caught down the leg side to make it 18 for 4. A 38-ball boundary drought was broken by BJ Watling but Ross Taylor’s nick to the keeper in the ninth over while trying to cut Perera left the visitors in a deep hole.
A 70-minute rain interruption gave them brief respite, and a reduction in overs – to 14 a side – spurred the lower order to chase quick runs. Andrew Ellis pulled Perera for a flat six over deep midwicket before Southee tore into Eranga to lend a bit of a respectability to New Zealand’s score in a truncated game. Bowling the penultimate over, Eranga doled out length and Southee used power, and some cheekiness when he shuffled across to glance one fine, to take the bowler for 16 runs. Kulasekara, though, conceded just three off the final over to ensure his team walked back on a high, with not much for their batsmen to scale down. But the rain was to deny them.
Scores: Sri Lanka 6 for 0 v New Zealand 74 for 7 (Southee 21*, Dananjaya 2-9, Kulasekara 2-13) Match abandoned.
Rain likely to have a say in SL-NZ ODI: It has taken just one match to confirm that Sri Lanka and New Zealand will be battling something that is beyond their control. Rain ruined the one-off T20I at Pallekele, making Angelo Mathews’ first stint as T20 captain a wet one. The weather is all set to wreck havoc for the first ODI that will be played at this venue. For Sri Lanka, the situation is similar to the time when the West Indies arrived on Sri Lankan shores in 2010 when rain destroyed the entire tour. For the sake of Sri Lankan fans, they will be hoping that they can get a match without any interruptions.
The return of Mahela Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga will boost the Sri Lankan line-up. The Sri Lankan batting line-up looks stronger on paper than the Kiwis. Tillekeratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara form the core of the batting unit. The remaining places in the batting could well be the same as the squad that played in the T20 World Cup. Looking at the performance of Akila Dananjaya in the T20I, he looks all set to make his ODI debut and partner Rangana Herath as the second spinner.
The most interesting aspect is that this will be the first bilateral ODI series played in Sri Lanka between these two teams after a gap of 20 years. Thanks to the familiarity with the conditions, the Sri Lankan team are favorites in this contest. All this will be applicable if the rain stays away.
The New Zealand batting order at present is fragile. During the T20I in Pallekele where conditions provided a lot of help to the Lankan bowlers, the Kiwi top order fared worse than novices. Only three batsmen managed double digits in the rain-curtailed match. Their ODI record does not make for good reading either. If the series wins against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh are taken out of the equation, then New Zealand last won an ODI series against Pakistan in the UAE in 2009. In the last one year, they have won only one out of their last eight ODIs and this will be a cause of concern.
The only players who have performed well for New Zealand have been Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson. The problem is that no one else has contributed consistently when the team needed it the most. A middle order that is lacking in form is being jolted further by the lack of depth in New Zealand’s bowling. Barring Tim Southee and Kyle Mills, the rest of the bowlers have struggled for penetration. In spinning conditions, one wonders about the impact that Ronnie Hira and possibly Nathan McCullum might have. The bottom-line is that in the sub-continent, the Kiwis have a huge mountain to climb.
Sri Lanka and New Zealand have played 74 ODIs against each other and both are evenly matched. New Zealand have won 35 matches and Sri Lanka have won 34 with one match being tied and the remaining four being a no-result.
