New Zealand 146 for 1 (Seifert 79*, Bowes 31, Rajitha 1-25) beat Sri Lanka (De Silva 37, Milne 5-26, Lister 2-26) by nine wickets
The turning point: Perera and de Silva fall in quick succession
Sri Lanka appeared headed to another substantial total when Perera and de Silva were batting – their partnership yielding 62 off 46 balls. There was plenty of batting to come too, with the in-form Charith Asalanka in next, followed by the big-hitting Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga.
But Perera fell for 35 off 32, smashing a Milne slower ball straight to deep midwicket, before de Silva also holed out in the next over, hitting Rachin Ravindra to long off, having made 37 off 26.
Sri Lanka’s middle order unravels
The remaining batters also fell trying to crash boundaries. Shanaka skied a slog trying to clatter Henry Shipley across the line; Hasaranga couldn’t quite hit a James Neesham legcutter over mid-off, and later, Asalanka top-edged a cutter from Milne, having made 24 off 19.
All up, since the 12th over, Sri Lanka lost eight wickets for 50 runs, in the space of 47 balls, the tail also falling meekly.
Milne’s triple-wicket over
Asalanka was just the first of Milne’s victims in the 19th over. Two balls later, Milne bowled a terrific yorker that ricocheted off Pramod Madushan’s pads and into the stumps. The yorker to Dilshan Madushanka was even more impressive, taking out middle and off stump, to end Sri Lanka’s innings. Milne’s take was 5 for 26 from his four overs. Ben Lister took 2 for 26.
The Seifert show
Although 142 was never a target that seemed likely to test New Zealand, Seifert’s spectacular hitting made especially light work of it. He didn’t have much of the strike initially, as Bowes struck seven fours in his 16-ball 31. After Bowes’ departure in the fourth over, Seifert took control, first thwacking Madushan through point, before launching Kasun Rajitha for two sixes over long-on in the sixth over.
Seifert continued to deal in sixes, often hitting with the wind to clear the University Oval’s small boundaries. He slog swept both Hasaranga and de Silva for sixes – the first over midwicket, the second over deep square leg. Later, he reverse-slapped de Silva twice for six, with the winning runs coming off one of those blows. Seifert hit six sixes in all, and three fours.
Tom Latham, his partner through a 106-run partnership that came off 68 balls, played second fiddle making 20 off 30 en route to a comfortable win.