After being bowled out for just 108, New Zealand put up a strong fight to defend the target with Lockie Ferguson picking up a hat-trick across two overs. Lockie Ferguson sent back Kusal Perera’s wicket off the final ball of the sixth over and then went on to dismiss Kamindu Mendis and Charith Asalanka off back-to-back deliveries in the eighth over to complete his hat-trick.
It was the second time this year that Lockie Ferguson has produced a superb spell, with the right-armer collecting eye-catching figures of 3/0 from four overs against Papua New Guinea at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in June. Lockie Ferguson became the fifth New Zealand bowler to pick up a men’s T20I hat-trick after Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Michael Bracewell and Matt Henry.
While Oram and Southee were the second and third bowlers to pick up men’s T20I hat-tricks, Bracewell took his in 2022 and Henry in 2023 against Pakistan. Southee also took another hat-trick in 2022 against India.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch report: “The pitch looks harder and there is a lot of moisture underneath which could assist the spinners and expect this to play better than the first game,” reckons Aamer Sohail.
Toss : Sri Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka won the toss and chose to field with no changes in the playing XI. New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner who also wanted to bowl first made one change in the playing XI bringing in Lockie Ferguson for Jacob Duffy
Wanindu Hasaranga’s 4-fer and Pathirana skittles NZ for paltry 108 runs
It was clear there was big turn on this track from the outset. On top of which, Wanindu Hasaranga was in especially devastating touch. First ball, he bowled Phillips attempting what may have been a pre-meditated reverse slap. It was the googly that did that damage. Later in the over, he ripped a big legbreak, bowled slow through the air, beat Bracewell’s outside edge and took the top of his offstump – a classical leg spinner’s dismissal.
Hay was dismissed similarly next over, before getting Young overbalanced attempting a sweep, with Kusal Mendis collecting the ball down the leg side and flinging down the stumps while Young was out of the crease – an especially sharp piece of wicketkeeping after Mendis had been struck on the knee the previous over.
That Wanindu Hasaranga did all this with a leg injury he’d picked up early in the game, made it even more impressive. He was hobbling through many of his deliveries.
Even before Wanindu Hasaranga and Pathirana could dismantle the visitors, Nuwan Thusara struck twice – on the first ball of both his first and second over – to take out Tim Robinson and Mark Chapman. Robinson got a searing inswinging yorker that he couldn’t keep out from crashing the stumps while Chapman got a slower one that he didn’t read and hit it to Kamindu Mendis at short extra cover. Will Young and Glenn Phillips dragged Sri Lanka to 33 for 2 in the PowerPlay but Hasaranga arrived immediately ruffling feathers.
For the second evening and game in a row, his googlies wreaked havoc as he started out by foxing Phillips with one to clean him up. In the same over, Bracewell was undone by classical leg spin as he danced down and missed his attempt to play the ball that spun in viciously rattling the stumps.
Mitch Hay got a stock ball too – a leg spinner – that beat him in the air and struck the top of off-stump to push New Zealand down to 45 for 5 in the 9th over. Will Young who was fighting on from the other end then became Hasaranga’s fourth victim, when he missed a sweep shot and lost his footing to get stumped. Wanindu Hasaranga finished with figures of 4 for 17 in four overs.
Matheesha Pathirana then picked up from where Wanindu Hasaranga left off to deny New Zealand even a semblance of recovery at the death. He dismissed Mitchell Santner with a slower short ball that the latter hit to Dunith Wellalage at long-on. In the penultimate over of the game, Pathirana had Zakary Foulkes caught off another slower one by Bhanuka Rajapaksa at third man before Maheesh Theekshana dismissed Ish Sodhi in the 20th.
Lockie Ferguson alongside Glenn Philips demolishes Sri Lanka with a historic hat-trick in the Dambulla T20I
Having scored fewer than the first T20I, New Zealand needed a strong start with the ball to make a match of this second fixture. Santner gave them just that by cleaning up Kusal Mendis in the second over. Sri Lanka’s start was groggy as Nissanka hit the first four of the chase only in the fifth over.
Lockie Ferguson then picked the first wicket of his hat-trick in the final ball of the PowerPlay when he got Kusal Perera caught behind by Mitch Hay. On the first ball of the eighth over, Ferguson trapped Kamindu plumb in front and then got Charith Asalanka caught behind down the leg side.
Lockie Ferguson first removed Kusal Perera on the last ball of the 6th over. The fast bowler bowled a pacy yorker from around the wicket. Perera brought his bat down hurriedly to try and squeeze it out. But the bat hit the ground, and the ball trimmed the outside edge and went to the keeper Mitch Hay, who dived to his left to pouch it with both hands.
Lockie Ferguson then made sure that he continued troubling the batters in his next over as well. On the first ball of his second over, he removed Kamindu Mendis and bagged two wickets in two balls to bring his team back in the game with big names back in the hut.
Lockie Ferguson bowled a full delivery that was angled in from round the wicket. Kamindu Mendis was beaten for pace as he missed the flick to get hit low on the front pad adjacent to the sticks. The batter opted for DRS, but there was nothing on UltraEdge, and the ball-tracking showed the ball was crashing into the middle and leg.
Lockie Ferguson then ensured that he got his third wicket on the very next ball. The fast bowler bowled a fuller delivery that was going down the leg. Charith Asalanka looked to flick it away but got the inside edge as the ball was caught by the keeper, who dived to his right to take a brilliant catch.
With Lockie Ferguson unavailable through the back end of the innings, and Santner choosing to keep the pressure on Sri Lanka by bowling his frontliners relatively early, it fell to Glenn Phillips to bowl the big-pressure final over.
Sri Lanka needed eight from it, which is not a huge amount when you have a top-order player batting on a half-century at the crease. Phillips found a way. When Nissanka got on strike for the second ball, he went down low and tried to slog-sweep it, only to find the long-on fielder. Next ball, Phillips slid a ball past the outside edge of Matheesha Pathirana, who stumbled forward, and was duly stumped.
Sri Lanka could have still won – or at least tied – the game going into the final two deliveries. Maheesh Theekshana, who can occasionally produce boundaries, was on strike. But Phillips bowled bravely, slowing up a big off break outside off, with a little extra top spin. Theekshana swung, and only got a top edge, that Hay tracked down with his gloves to spark New Zealand jubilation.
While Sri Lanka still held the aces with Nissanka leading the chase from one end, New Zealand kept chipping away as Michael Bracewell dismissed Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dunith Wellalage. Nissanka soon got to his half-century and dragged the chase all the way to the final over. Santner threw the ball to Glenn Phillips, who’d bowled the 17th over and given away just four runs.
The game turned when Nissanka went for a big shot and holed out to substitute fielder Henry Nicholls at long-on. On the next ball, Phillips had Pathirana stumped. Nuwan Thusara denied Phillips the hat-trick and turned the strike over but Theekshana then top-edged a ball trying a slog sweep, and was caught behind to bring a dramatic end to a game that Sri Lanka fluffed.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Mitchell Santner the winning skipper said : At the change of innings, I just wanted us to fight as a unit. There was a bit there for both seam and spin. We talked about taking wickets up top and apply pressure and thought we did that extremely well. We would have liked a few more runs with the bat, but it was a tricky surface.
We knew if we could put the ball in the right area for long time and let the pitch do its work and tried to take wickets up top. Lockie and the seamers bowled extremely well. (On Ferguson) He’s a world-class bowler for us. Anytime someone can bowl thunderbolts like that, it’s not easy to face.
That was his role tonight – try and get a few wickets in the middle and beak up the spin a little. It spins a lot here, look forward to the ODIs now. We have to find a method and dig in. Today we probably went a little bit hard too early and thought the par score might have been more.
We’ve got a few days, we’ll see what the pitch has got for us. GP has probably bowled more this series than he has in white ball, so nice to throw him the ball and get some wickets at the end for us.
Charith Asalanka the losing skipper said : (Sri Lanka’s game to lose?) I agree. Full credit goes to them, undone by good bowling and good fielding. We could have batted a little bit better. Only today we struggled (against spin), basically we are playing spin well.
We have to get the right options on these tracks. I think we have a settled team right now. This kind of games can happen anytime at any point in this journey. I just believe in my bunch, just go and play good cricket. It’s very important for us to climb in the rankings, the guys are in really good mood to play the one-dayers.
Lockie Ferguson Player of the Match for his impressive hattrick said : It was a full team effort. Pretty scrappy, I am not sure where that fits in all time defending totals, but certainly the lowest I have defended as a group. Nice to be out there. Unfortunate to come off with only two overs bowled. GP bowled a lovely death over there to get us over the line, he can probably bowl there from now.
That’s the job – try and bowl quick, I was happy to get a couple tonight. When you get a bit of swing, it’s nice and it helps. It spun a lot and from our point of view, as quick bowlers, it’s just trying to hold up an end, take wickets whenever we can and allow the spinners to do what they can do.
Wanindu Hasaranga Player of the series for his impressive performances said : (On his hamstring) Finally I can have a few weeks break after this match. I think it’s bad. I wanted to bowl my four overs to cut down their total. I can’t run, so I tried to maximize (with the bat) but I got out. I wanted to bowl the stumps’ line with the 5-metre length, I tried to do my basic things.
Lockie Ferguson bagged a hat-trick while Glenn Phillips picked three in the 20th over to pull off a sensational five-run win for New Zealand in Dambulla that gave them series parity. Sri Lanka were all over New Zealand through Wanindu Hasaranga (4-17) and Matheesha Pathirana (3-11) to bowl them out for 108. Pathum Nissanka scored a half-century in the chase after Ferguson’s early haul but Phillips defended eight off the last over expertly to stun the hosts.
New Zealand win by 5 runs and level the series 1-1. This is the lowest total successfully defended by NZ in T20Is. They have defended 108! Captain Santer struck early with the new ball and then Lockie Ferguson – coming into the XI – bagged a hat-trick which saw the hosts getting reduced to 34/4. Just when it looked like Nissanka and Rajapaksa were steadying the ship, Bracewell broke the partnership by removing the latter. Hasaranga and Wellalage couldn’t make an impact.
But Sri Lanka were in the game as long as Nissanka was out in the middle. The opener, despite losing wickets at the other end, compiled a half-ton and ensured that the asking rate didn’t swell. Theekshana scored a boundary in the penultimate over which brought the equation down to eight needed off the final over. Ferguson’s injury meant he could bowl only two overs and Phillips was summoned to bowl the final over. And GP delivered. Three wickets in five balls and New Zealand won a humdinger.
Roughly 20 days after the women’s team won the T20 World Cup, and about a week after the men’s Test team completed a whitewash of India at home, New Zealand’s cricketers continue to do the near-impossible.
On this occasion they defended 108 all out on a tricky – but far from unplayable – Dambulla surface. Lockie Ferguson bowled only two overs before having to leave the field because of a calf injury, but he claimed a hat-trick to rip out Sri Lanka’s top order, as he collected figures of 3 for 7.
As has often been the case on this long South Asian sojourn, Glenn Phillips was vital to New Zealand’s victory too. He’d been out for 4 off 9, but took three wickets in the final over – which he had only had to bowl because of Ferguson’s absence. The most prized of those wickets was that of Pathum Nissanka, who had been Sri Lanka’s backbone, making 52 off 50, until he tried to smash Phillips over long-on, but could not clear the fielder.
He was the last recognized batter to be dismissed, however. Zakary Foulkes, Mitchell Santner, and Michael Bracewell had all been effective in keeping Sri Lanka on a leash, as they squeezed wickets out of the batters’ frustrations. New Zealand have never defended a lower total in T20Is. Only twice have Full Members failed to finish off a chase of such modest proportions. (Zim vs Nam in 2023 and WI vs Zim in 2010)
Sri Lanka would have thought themselves almost certain to win, when they earlier had the opposition 52 for 6 in the 11th over. But New Zealand cobbled together what looked an unimpressive total between Will Young’s 30, Santner’s 19, and Josh Clarkson’s 24. All of those innings came at less than a run-a-ball. This result ties the series 1-1, Sri Lanka having eased to victory on Saturday.
The two captains receive the cheque first and then collect the trophy as they pose for the photographs. Sri Lanka won quite comfortably yesterday after bowling out their opponents for 135. A hobbling Hasaranga bowled beautifully today to take a 4-for as the hosts skittled out NZ for 108. Sri Lanka were the favourites at that stage but the Kiwis fought back brilliantly with the ball to square the series. Ends the 2-match T20I series. The 3-match ODI series commences on Wednesday.