Kusal hammers 4th ODI century in loosing effort against New Zealand

Colombo (News1st) - After a disappointing end to the test series against hosts New Zeland, Sri Lanka mounted a fierce fight against the Kiwis in their first ODI outing. The visitors, however, fell short and suffered a 45 run defeat. Winning the toss New Zealand opted to take the first lease of the Mount Maunganui wicket. Sri Lanka was able to strike an early blow to dismiss opener Colin Munro for just 13 runs. The Kiwis bounced back through the efforts of opener Martin Guptill who went on to record his 14th century. He was eventually dismissed for 138 runs by Thisara Perera, however, the damage was already done. The Kiwis countinued to pile on the runs and ended up with a mamoth 371 runs in their allotted 50 overs. Skipper Kane Williamson hammered 76 while Ross Taylor chipped in with 54 runs. James Neesham who made a comeback into the New Zealand team hammered an unbeaten 47 runs thanks to a very expensive over by Thisara Perera which included 5 sixes and a no-ball (32 runs in total) Sri Lanka who began their chase got off to a great start with an opening stand of 119 runs between Dhanushka Gunathilaka and Niroshan Dickwella. Dickwella recorded his 9th ODI half-century today on his way to a score 76. However, both Dickwella and Gunathilaka were dismissed before the 20th over. This triggered an all too familiar middle-order collapse. Kusal Janith Perera who came in at number three fought a solitary battle to edge Sri Lanka close to the target. He was eventually dismissed by Trent Boult soon after scoring his 4th ODI century (102). Sri Lanka were bowled out for 326 runs in 49 overs. New Zeland lead the 3 match ODI series 1-0