Sri Lanka vs New Zealand 1st ODI at Hambantota: Rain halts play
Sri Lanka and New Zealand are playing a three-match ODI series © Getty Images (Representational photo)
Nov 9, 2013
New Zealand were 13 for one in pursuit of 289 against Sri Lanka in their first One-Day International at Hambantota, when rain halted proceedings at the Mahinda Rajpaksa International Stadium on Sunday.
The Kiwis lost one wicket in form of Anton Devcich, who was cleaned up by Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga on the sixth ball of the opening over.
Tom Latham was batting on four, accompanied by Rob Nicol on one when rain interripted the match. New Zealand need a further 276 runs to win from 45.4 overs with nine wickets in hand.
Earlier, Half-centuries by Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews guided Sri Lanka to 288 for nine in their 50 overs against New Zealand.
New Zealand skipper Kyle Mills won the toss and elected to field. The decision seemed to work immediately as Mills trapped Dimuth Karunaratne in front of the stumps in the very first ball of the match.
However, the experienced pair of Dilshan and Sangakkara ensured that the visitors don’t take the early advantage. They added a steady stand of 137 runs to put the hosts in command. Sangakkara paced his innings well before falling for 79 off 81 balls. His knock included nine boundaries and two sixes.