Kane Williamson made a welcome return to the New Zealand side with an elegant century to set up a four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the fourth one-day international Tuesday. Backed by lusty hitting from Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi, New Zealand overtook Sri Lanka's 276 with 11 balls to spare and move 2-1 ahead in the seven-match series.
In a tense finish New Zealand needed 47 off 36 balls when the 24-year-old Williamson was removed for 103, his fifth ODI century. Anderson was run out for 47 with New Zealand needing 32 runs with 26 balls left. Up stepped Luke Ronchi to blast a rapid 32 including three sixes and Daniel Vettori hit a four as New Zealand finished with a flourish.
After losing the early wickets of Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor cheaply, an unflustered Williamson led the rescue mission, first in partnership with Grant Elliott and then with Anderson. He brought up his century with a steady accumulation of singles, only reaching the boundary seven times with six fours and a six. But having attained the milestone he was bowled by Thisara Perera and Anderson vacated the field soon after.
McCullum, on whom New Zealand rely heavily to get off to a good start, failed to oblige this time with a gentle poke at a Nuwan Kulasekera delivery and was caught at mid on for just 11. Guptill failed to back up from his unbeaten 66 in the washed out third match in Auckland on Saturday as he was caught behind for 20 while Taylor went cheaply for eight as New Zealand slumped to 63-3 after 15 overs.
Sri Lanka's innings was the product of finely constructed performances by their two elder statesmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Between them the 37-year-olds contributed all but 106 of Sri Lanka's 276 with Jayawardene scoring 94 off 82 deliveries and Sangakkara, who moved up to third on the list of top ODI run scorers, making 76 off 83. Sangakkara now has 13,490 runs, 214 behind Australian Ricky Ponting on a list headed by Indian great Sachin Tendulkar who amassed 18,426 runs.
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Scoreboard
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Sri Lanka
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D. Karunaratne lbw b Southee 5
T. Dilshan c Guptill b Williamson 44
K. Sangakkara c Guptill b Milne 76
M. Jayawardene c Ronchi b Anderson 94
A. Mathews c Ronchi b Milne 0
L. Thirimanne b McClenaghan 19
T. Perera c McCullum b Southee 5
J. Mendis c Vettori b Southee 12
N. Kulasekara run out (McCullum/McClenaghan) 4
S. Senanayake not out 1
R. Herath c Williamson b McClenaghan 0
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Extras (lb 2, w 14) 16
Total (for 10 wickets, 49.3 overs) 276
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Fall of Wickets: 1-11 (Karunaratne), 2-113 (Dilshan), 3-180 (Sangakkara), 4-180 (Mathews), 5-245 (Thirimanne), 6-253 (Jayawardene), 7-268 (Perera), 8-270 (Mendis), 9-273 (Kulasekara), 10-276 (Herath)
Bowling: Southee 10-1-59-3 (4w), Milne 7-0-28-2 (1w), McClenaghan 9.3-0-58-2 (4w), Anderson 3-0-19-1, Elliott 3-0-19-0 (1w), Vettori 10-0-41-0, Williamson 7-0-50-1.
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New Zealand
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M. Guptill c Sangakkara b Mathews 20
B. McCullum c Perera b Kulasekara 11
K. Williamson b Perera 103
R. Taylor c Sangakkara b Herath 8
G. Elliott c Thirimanne b Mendis 44
G. Anderson run out (Dilshan) 47
L. Ronchi not out 32
D. Vettori not out 7
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Extras (lb 1, wd 7) 8
Total (for 6 wickets, 48.1 overs) 280
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Fall of wickets: 1-24 (McCullum), 2-41 (Guptill), 3-63 (Taylor), 4-151 (Elliott), 5-230 (Williamson), 6-245 (Anderson)
Bowling: Kulasekara 9-0-51-1 (3w), Mathews 4-1-16-1 (1w), Herath 9-1-39-1 (2w), Perera 8-0-58-1, Senanayake 9.1-0-57-0, Mendis 7-0-40-1 (1w), Dilshan 2-0-18-0
Toss: Sri Lanka
Series: New Zealand lead 2-1
Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG), Derek Walker (NZL)
TV umpire: Nigel Llong (ENG)
Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND).
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