Dinesh Chandimal to captain Sri Lanka in New Zealand T20s

With the win, Sri Lanka also brought an end to New Zealand’s 12-match ODI winning streak at home.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum is set to miss his side’s third one-day worldwide against Sri Lanka due to a back injury.

Sri Lanka T20I squad: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Dushmantha Chameera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Danushka Gunathilaka, Shehan Jayasuriya, Chamara Kapugadera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Sachithra Senanayake, Milinda Siriwardana, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Kithuruwan Vithanage.

Dilshan’s opening partner Danushka Gunathilaka blasted a 45-ball 65, his first one-day global half century, after Sri Lanka’s bowlers were far more competitive having been hammered for more than 100 runs in the first 10 overs of both of the first two games.

He is struggling to recover in time for game three of the series in Nelson on Thursday as the hosts look to clinch the five-match series.

New Zealand earlier were restricted to a score of 276 for the loss of eight wickets in their quota of 50 overs, with stand-in skipper Kane Williamson top-scoring with a 73-ball 59.

Southee racked up 18 runs from four balls, hitting a six, six and four in the last three balls in the innings. Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Adam Milne were the frontline quicks. Guptill did, however, break the New Zealand record for the fastest 50, going one better than McCullum’s best.McCullum did not open the New Zealand innings after injuring himself when he crashed into the fence while trying to cut off a boundary. “He’s getting closer, but we’ll be taking a precautionary approach”, Hesson said.

New Zealand also named their squad for the final two ODIs against Sri Lanka. In addition to the valuable catch to remove Williamson, the 23-year-old Chameera claimed the wickets of Martin Guptill (30) and Henry Nicholls (20) and ran out Mitchell Santner (38).