Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the third and final ODI between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, in Pallekele on Tuesday (November 19, 2024). The hosts have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and are eyeing a clean sweep with victory tonight. (Streaming | More Cricket News)
The Lankans sealed their first ODI series win against New Zealand since 2012, thanks to an unbeaten 74 from Kusal Mendis that steered them past the 210-run target in the penultimate over, with just three wickets in hand.
Earlier, the rain-hit opener saw centuries from Mendis and Avishka Fernando, who constructed a 206-run partnership to propel the Lankans to 324 for five in 49.2 overs before the downpour began. The home team's spinners later engineered a collapse in the Kiwi innings, scalped five wickets in the middle overs for just 22 runs to restrict the visitors to 175 for nine in their designated 27 overs. The win margin was a healthy 45 runs.
Follow the live cricket scores and ball-by-ball commentary from the SL vs NZ match, right here.
Toss Update
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and decided to bat first.
Playing XIs
New Zealand: Will Young, Tim Robinson, Henry Nicholls, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Mitch Hay(w), Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Ish Sodhi, Zakary Foulkes, Adam Milne.
Sri Lanka: Nishan Madushka(w), Avishka Fernando, Nuwanidu Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka(c), Janith Liyanage, Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Dilshan Madushanka, Mohamed Shiraz.
Sri Lanka came into this series on the back of a 1-2 ODI leg defeat against the West Indies. Charith Asalanka's men, however, clinched the T20I series 2-1 before that.
