New Zealand have won the first match of 3 match T20 International series against Sri Lanka at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui.
As Jacob Duffy’s 4 – 21 - 3 spell drove the team the victory over Lankans, he was named as the man of the match.
The Sri Lankans were batting well until the Duffy brought the breakthrough at 13.3 over sending Kusal Mendis (46 of 36) to pavilion. One ball later, following Kusal’s wicket, he back to back packed Kusal Pererac and Kamindu Mendis.
He said in the post-match interview: “Momentum was flowing their way, we took a few punts and tried to create something and I guess it paid off. We know these conditions pretty well. Nice coming back from Asia and playing here, was a good experience.”
Before, winning the toss Sri Lanka sent New Zealand to bat.
New Zealand managed to score 172-8 in 20 overs, depending on Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell’s astonishing fifties.
Thought the opener Nissanka and Kusal Mendis started well, the team couldn’t hold the momentum, resulting in a 8 run loss.
Sri Lankan batsmen managed to arrange only 164 runs, just a couple of runs short than the target.
Lankan team were very disappointed, as Asalanka said: “Very disappointed about the result, we really should have done better. The openers batted really well, apart from that, including me, rest of us had to take the responsibility.”
He said: “That’s the beauty of this game, things can change quickly, we hope to come back well. I thought we could’ve done bit better with the bowling and fielding, thought it was a decent pitch and when the openers were batting it will be real easy. Want to come back and do really well in the next game.”
However, winning skipper Michell Santner was happy with the ‘difficult’ win. He said in the post-match interview: “Was a game of two halves, both with bat and ball.”
“Was setup by the partnership. Showed that once you were in, you could get going,” he said, adding: “Looked like there was a bit there with the new ball. Their left-arm seamer bowled well. Once the ball got older it came on a bit better. Bit tough when you lose wickets in clumps.”
He continued: “Was a massive partnership for us, the way they went about, they soaked it in for a bit then took it on. We knew we had a bit of momentum going for the second innings. Their openers played really well. We tried to take wickets, the way the seamers fought back with some aggressive bowling and aggressive field sets, we like to keep mid-wicket up to try and see what they want to do. Duffy changed the game for us.”
Bd-Pratidin English/ Afsar Munna
