The third One-Day International between Sri Lanka and New Zealand was called off due to rain. Only 21 overs of play was possible on Sunday in the dead-rubber contest at the Pallekele International Stadium, in which New Zealand scored 112 for 1.
Persistent rain in Pallekele meant the final ODI between Sri Lanka and New Zealand was washed out, with Sri Lanka, who had won the first two games, taking the series 2-0. This is Sri Lanka’s fifth ODI series win this year. It was an anti-climactic end to a game that had begun with much promise, courtesy a fresh pitch that was expected to suit the batters as opposed to the more sluggish surfaces served up in the first two games.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch report: Yesterday was a very heavy rain day and so the conditions today are muggy. This pitch looks a lot better than the previous one. There are cracks but the pitch looks good overall. I reckon it will be much better for batting, reckons Farveez Maharoof
Toss: New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner won the toss and chose to bat with two changes in the playing XI with Zachary Foulkes , who impressed in the T20Is, will be making his ODI debut, with Adam Milne also in the mix.
Sri Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka bowling first A after the second ODI, promised Sri Lanka would test their bench strength and they have made five changes, with Madushka, Madushanka, Nuwanidu, Shiraz and Wickramasinghe all coming into the eleven and Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis, Asitha Fernando, Dunith Wellalage and Pathum Nissanka being rested with future SA tour in mind.
The rain had the last laugh as Sri Lanka won the series 2-0
New Zealand, who had already conceded the series after having lost the first two games, elected to bat after winning the toss. After having made a brisk start, punching and cutting Dilshan Madhushanka for boundaries in the opening over, Tim Robinson was dismissed in the fourth over of the innings.
New Zealand, having won the toss, decided to take first lease of it and proceeded to get off to their best start of the series. The first ten overs saw them ticking along at a touch under six an over, despite not taking many risks. That was primarily down to the fact that nearly 40% of those runs had come off the wayward Dilshan Madushanka, whose two overs went for 23 runs.
That was the last of Madushanka with the ball, but some sloppy efforts in the outfield meant it was a day to forget for the left-arm seamer who had just 12 months prior been one of the most sought-after seamers in world cricket following a stellar World Cup in India. That, though, seemed to be a lifetime ago as he struggled to maintain consistent lines and lengths. The first five boundaries of the New Zealand innings came of his bowling.
Robinson leaned into a drive and toe-ended the ball to the mid off fielder, handing Mohamed Shiraz his maiden ODI wicket. However, despite the early loss, Will Young kept cashing in on the errors in lengths by the bowlers, stroking Shiraz and Chamindu Wickramasinghe for two boundaries each in consecutive overs.
At the other end though, Sri Lanka kept things relatively tight – first through seamer Mohamed Shiraz and then their bevy of spinners. The solitary wicket of the innings had in fact come courtesy Shiraz, playing just his second ODI and his first of the series, though it had also owed much to skipper Charith Asalanka who leapt high to his left at mid-off to hold on to a mistimed drive from Tim Robinson.
Shiraz’s five overs went for 23 runs as both Robinson and Will Young were troubled by his late swing – 20 dot balls out of 30 legal deliveries spoke of his control.
New Zealand, though, managed a scoring rate nearing six even after the powerplay, comfortably knocking the ball around despite Sri Lanka cutting off the boundary opportunities. Young and Henry Nicholls were largely untroubled, with the pair unbeaten on 56 and 46 respectively, and their partnership at a threatening 88 off 106, before rain brought play to a permanent end after just 21 overs.
The abandonment of the game is a missed opportunity for both sides as they sought to test their bench strength. For the visitors, there was a debut for seamer Zakary Foulkes, who had impressed in the T20I leg, while fellow seamer Adam Milne also got his first game on the tour. They had come in for Nathan Smith and Jacob Duffy.
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, made no less than five changes, with Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage and Asitha Fernando all making way. In came batters Nishan Madushka and Nuwanidu Fernando, seamers Madushanka and Shiraz, while there was also a debut for seam-bowling allrounder Chamindu Wickramasinghe – he bowled just two overs and gave away 14 runs.
Rise of Sri Lanka cricket post 2023 World Cup with Sanath Jayasuriya as coach of the National team
Since July Sri Lanka’s men have played eight ODIs and won six, tied one, and lost one. Even before this, Sri Lanka had not been a completely abysmal ODI side; in fact, in the two years before this recent stretch, they’d won 23 ODIs to the 18 they’d lost, maintaining a respectable win/loss ratio of 1.28.
But the wider perception, nevertheless, was that this was a nosediving outfit. What other conclusion could you reach, when having stunk up the ODI World Cup last year, Sri Lanka failed to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy Even in the 1970s and 80s, they’d never missed a major ICC tournament. Since 2016, they’ve also not been especially close to making the knockouts of any of the global limited-overs events.
And so the current stretch, headlined by their first bilateral ODI series win over India in 27 years, and now backed up by series wins over West Indies and New Zealand, feels like a serious resurgence. Sri Lanka has had flash-in-the-pan limited-overs successes over the past few years, most notably the T20 Asia Cup win in 2022 and new coach Sanath Jayasuriya and Charith Asalanka would take all the credit for the same.
Because there are other signs that, following almost a decade principally defined by dysfunction, the team has come upon a stretch of relative health. This is a team that is led capably, and ambitiously, for a start. Charith Asalanka has been exceptional in the tricky No. 5 spot, averaging 50.41 this year with a strike rate of 97. Often astute with the reviews, and frequently clever with his bowling resources (including bowling himself plenty, when the situation demands), he has marshaled a varied attack fruitfully.
In fact, there are improvements almost across the board. Each of the top three – Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, and Avishka Fernando – have made vital contributions to victories in the last two months, with Kusal riding an especially hot wave of form at present. They have been so good, in fact, that they are keeping out Nishan Madushka, who had scored 69 and 38 in the two ODIs he played against West Indies.
The bowling has rarely been the chief concern, even over the past few years, but the likes of Maheesh Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage have also contributed with the bat, with Theekshana’s 27 not out off 44 on Sunday especially notable for its maturity in a tough match situation.
There is, as Charith Asalanka has repeatedly pointed out, significant bench strength in the squad now, which in turn means players are motivated to make themselves difficult to drop. Avishka is one example. His batting talent has always been clear, but there was a time when his fitness had been an impediment. On Sunday, he claimed three outstanding catches.
There are the weaker areas too. Kamindu Mendis has not lit up the international white-ball world yet, though he has long been a force in domestic one-day and T20 cricket. Sadeera Samarawickrama has had an inconsistent run of performances since last year’s World Cup.
Sri Lanka is too reliant on turning tracks for their victories. The last few months have seen some dustbowls in Dambulla, Pallekele, in Colombo, with some of those even prompting West Indies coach Darren Sammy to claim his team had claimed the moral victory (when they had suffered a non-moral loss) in the T20I series. In Sunday’s game, in which Sri Lanka fielded only one frontline seamer, this felt especially relevant.
But crunch the numbers, and it doesn’t seem as if Sri Lanka’s pitches are especially extreme. Batters have averaged 29.49 in Sri Lanka in ODIs since July, and 29.73 since the start of 2022, which puts the country just below the middle of the pack when compared to the home conditions of the eight teams that have qualified for next year’s Champions Trophy*, with batters averaging less in New Zealand, Bangladesh and Australia.
The next major ODI trophy Sri Lanka will contest will be the 2027 World Cup. On the T20 front, Sri Lanka are co-hosts of the 2025 tournament, alongside India. There are no pressing reasons as to why better batting tracks must be rolled out; there is time to adjust.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Charith Asalanka the winning skipper said : (On five ODI series victories in 2024) I think I’m really pleased with our performance. It’s not easy to win five consecutive series. Although it’s at home, it’s a good achievement. Myself and coach want to give chance to players to perform. Individual players got a good run and that’s the way forward. (On whether he is enjoying captaincy?)
It’s your choice (chuckles). I’m enjoying that, I believe I have to enjoy everything, that’s the key to success. This series we had a lot of positives. Especially, Kusal Mendis, batted really well. The bowlers also bowled well and our fielding was really good. (On Upul Chandana’s contribution as fielding coach) The boys are working really hard and the coach is also doing a good job.
Mitchell Santner the losing skipper said : It’s for us always a challenge to come here, the conditions are different than back home. It’s a shame we couldn’t finish the game today, we had a good start. Will Young started well and Nicholls did well to build a partnership with him, the wicket was better than the previous game.
I thoroughly enjoyed it (captaincy), it was a good learning curve for the youngsters. We always enjoy coming to Sri Lanka. We have got a few days to rest back at home and after that we will back to red-ball cricket (series against England).
Kusal Mendis has been awarded the Man of the Series award for his brilliant batting in this series. He is not present so Avishka Fernando collects the award on his behalf.
The incessant rain has had the final say and the match has been called off. Only 21 overs of play was possible today. Will Young and Henry Nicholls capitalized on the good batting conditions on offer and laid down a solid foundation for the middle order. But, the rain came down around 4pm local time. There was a glimmer of hope for resumption when it had stopped raining around 5pm but unfortunately, the rain returned again and washed away our hopes of a rain-curtailed game. Sri Lanka win the ODI series 2-0.
So, another ODI series victory for Sri Lanka in 2024 – this is the fifth ODI series they have won in 2024. They continue to take good strides in a format that demands prolonged hours of concentration and patience. New Zealand, on the other hand, end their tour of the subcontinent with bittersweet memories. They lost the Test series to Sri Lanka 2-0 a couple of months back.
The Kiwis however turned things around in style and whitewashed India in India 3-0 in the Test series and that’s a remarkable feat! After that, they returned to Sri Lanka and drew the T20I series 1-1 first up with the hosts. They were found wanting in the ODIs and slumped to a 2-0 defeat.
But, the fact that they whitewashed India in testing conditions will forever be etched in their memories! New Zealand will fly back home as they gear up to face England for a 3-match Test series scheduled to begin later this month. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will go to South Africa for a 2-match Test series and that series will also begin at the end of November. There are crucial WTC points up for grabs.