The third and final meeting of the ODI series between… New Zealand and Sri Lanka It ended with the Islanders winning the game by 140 points. A strong display from the visitors with the bat and a great bowling display from Ishaan Malinga, Asitha Fernando and Mahesh Thekshana The victory was decided for Sri Lanka. The trio took 3 wickets each and proved to be too much for the hosts in the end as they halted the run chase at just 150 runs in 29.4 overs.
It was the only glimmer of hope for the Blackcaps Mark Chapman. However, the dynamic opener could not do much amid little support from the other New Zealand batsmen and failed to turn things around for the Blackcaps. However, the win is only a constellation award for Sri Lanka as the home team has already secured a win in the ODI series by winning the first two matches.
A determined effort from Sri Lanka with the bat
Sri Lanka seemed confident of itself from the start of the match. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first. The decision proved its worth Pathum Nissanka And the dough is top notch Where in Mendi Sri Lanka gave a strong start. Camindo Mendes and Janeth Liang They were next to stabilize the Sri Lankan innings. A dedicated knock from these Sri Lankan batsmen helped Sri Lanka put on 290 runs in their 50 overs.
Henry died He starred for the New Zealand bowling unit. The Blackcaps ace took 4 wickets for his team and achieved a historic feat by completing 150 wickets in his ODI career.
A shocking display from the New Zealand fighters
In response, the New Zealand fighters put on a horror show with the bat. I started with openers Will Young and Rasheen Ravindra He was dismissed early, leaving the Blackcaps down by 2 wickets for just 4 runs. The entire New Zealand middle order has collapsed adding to the worry for the Blackcaps.
The New Zealand lower order tried to support Chapman who was the only conventional batsman to withstand the onslaught coming from the Sri Lankan pace attack. Chapman's 81 off 81 balls made him a knight in shining armor in an already derailed New Zealand innings. However, even Chapman could not save the home team from a historic humiliation as he was the last batsman to be dismissed by the Sri Lankan league players. This is Sri Lanka's second-largest margin of victory over New Zealand in the ODI format, the biggest being the 189-run win in Auckland in 2007.
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Here's how Twitter reacted
I'm pretty sure the loss will somehow be Chapman's fault, and that Latham will escape scrutiny for another failure. I'm also pretty sure we'll leave Chapman and Hay out of the team, because “experience”… #nzvsl
โ Simon Wood (@WoodOnWineNZ) January 11, 2025
If there was a league to win in dead rubber, we'd be world champions, right? ๐ฑ๐ฐ#NZvSL
– Kithmina Hewage (@khewage1) January 11, 2025
Biggest margins of victory (in terms of runs) in ODIs for Sri Lanka vs New Zealand:
189- Auckland 2007
140 โ Auckland 2025
112- Mumbai 2011 (World Cup)
106 – Sharjah 2001
106- Colombo (SSC) 2001#NZvSLโ Arthur_S (@allanholway) January 11, 2025
It is unfortunate that Sri Lanka will not play the Champions Trophy!! One of the most improved teams in the last 8 months!! In current offers they deserve to be there more than Bangladesh!! #ChampionsCup 2025 #NZvSL
– ๐ต๐ฐ | Hassanโข๐๐ฎ (@HassanEmpire007) January 11, 2025
Well, I have been a fan of SL ever since I knew cricket. And honestly, with their history as a touring team overseas, I didn't give them a chance in this series expecting them to roll 6-0 across formats. So I'm very happy with the way they performed.#NZvSL
– Reiwaz (@ReiwazAdh) January 11, 2025
First ODI win for SL in New Zealand after 9 years and after 10 winless matches
The last win was on December 31, 2015Asitha Fernando should be man of the match
Nissanka's 50 for 31 in PP when the ball was doing it all was amazingly special #NZvSLโ Renaissance (@renaisan) January 11, 2025
Mark Chapman is the last to be expelled for 81 years
New Zealand everything for 150
Sri Lanka won by 140 runs, and New Zealand won the series 2-1 #NZvSL pic.twitter.com/HB8CKiTFb9
โ Abhijeet โ (@TheYorkerBall) January 11, 2025
This is a good recovery from #SriLanka This guy, Sanath Jayasuriya, is trying to bring the old 90s Sri Lankan flavor to the team. #NZvsSL
โ Harish Sridhar (@timelesscricket) January 11, 2025
Credit was very well due to Sri Lanka for giving us a dugout tonight but @BLACKCAPS Seriously…๐ค๐ค
– Brendon Corlett ๐ณ๐ฟ (@BrendonCorlett1) January 11, 2025
29*62 and 81
What a performance by Mark Chapman leading the scorers in this series. ๐ #NZvsSL pic.twitter.com/opqS6Hcn7B
โ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐ณ๐ฟ (@Kiwiscricketfan) January 11, 2025
