Another calamitous Sri Lanka collapse gave way to a spectacular 30-ball 93 by Martin Guptill, as New Zealand crushed Sri Lanka by 10 wickets, running down the required 118 in 8.2 overs. Sri Lanka's humiliation was over before scheduled lunch, and the entire game lasted only 36 overs.
With a paltry target to chase, Guptill was brutal from the outset. He collected four first ball after his hook shot burst through leg gully's hands, then clobbered 27 off one Dushmantha Chameera over, and 26 from legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay's first over in ODIs.
The innings was almost a blur. He hit eight sixes and nine fours, meaning 60 per cent of the balls he faced disappeared to the boundary. His fifty off 17 balls is a New Zealand record. He might have threatened AB de Villiers' fastest hundred - off 31 balls - had Sri Lanka got a few more runs for him to gun down.
It had been Matt Henry and Mitchell McClenaghan that allowed Guptill to bat so freely, as they took seven cheap wickets between them. New Zealand's attack was probing and well-disciplined, without quite being extraordinary. On this day, that was all that was required. Adam Milne was left out with a bruised heel, meaning three frontline quicks were out of action for the hosts, yet they dismissed the opposition inside 28 overs. Henry was rapid and incisive again, taking 4 for 33. McClenaghan got good carry and a little movement from a shorter length, to claim 3 for 32.
The first sign Guptill was about to produce one of his special innings, was the head-down strike high over long-on, to Nuwan Kulasekara's first delivery in the second over of the innings. Guptill continued to launch every kind of bowler Sri Lanka sent at him both down the ground and square of the wicket. In the Chameera over that went for 27, he had first deposited the bowler behind the sightscreen, then carved him over the rope in the arc between third-man and point without remorse.
Guptill missed the world record for fastest fifty, thanks eventually to the use of the yorker by Nuwan Kulasekara. With the score already 71 off five overs, Vandersay came into the attack on debut, and had five deliveries smoked to the fence. Of the three sixes in that over, the 107m behemoth over long-on was particularly stunning.
New Zealand soon had a hundred runs by the seventh over, and the entire match was reminiscent of their demolition of England during the World Cup. On that occasion, Brendon McCullum had been the man launching balls into orbit. Incredibly, he had no part in this breakneck chase, having injured his back making a diving stop at deep square leg earlier on.
Sri Lanka's batting was arguably worse than their bowling. Two days ago, a 98-run seventh-wicket stand had provided brief respite from the tumble of wickets, but the visitors mustered no such mettle on Monday. The most substantial partnership of this innings was 25. Were it not for some clean hitting from Kulasekara, Sri Lanka may not have made triple-figures. He was the top-scorer, with 19 runs.
They were tied down by New Zealand's fielding, which was often sublime to the point of being excessive. Mitchell Santner took a superb catch at cover, Guptill created a run out with a diving stop in the gully region, and the ground fielding was exceptional throughout. McCullum's back injury flaring up was the result of crashing hard into the advertising hoardings, in order to save one run.
Sri Lanka's openers appeared to have embraced a more aggressive approach after the Boxing Day debacle, but soon died by the sword they attempted to slash New Zealand with. Tillakaratne Dilshan was caught at first slip after he charged at Henry and suddenly chose to check his shot. Danushka Gunathilaka was out a few overs later, blasting an overpitched delivery to the right of cover, where Santner completed a spectacular diving catch.
In between, Lahiru Thirimanne had carved a wide McClenaghan ball straight to third man, to collect his second successive score of one. And for the second time in two games, Sri Lanka's top three were dismissed inside the Powerplay.
Angelo Mathews showed glimpses of good form in his 22-ball knock, memorably clipping Doug Bracewell through midwicket for four. But Bracewell quickly nailed Dinesh Chandimal in front of the stumps with an indipper, before New Zealand switched to the legside short-ball plan they have been using against Mathews all tour. Mathews awkwardly fended at a McClenaghan ball at his ribs, then next delivery, gloved a catch to the wicketkeeper. At his dismissal, Sri Lanka were 56 for 5 off 15 overs.
Milinda Siriwardana and Chamara Kapugedara were out in the same over - Siriwardana nailing a short delivery straight to point, and Kapugedara was run out after a mix up that would normally be called catastrophic, but in the context of this collapse, was merely unfortunate.
Kulasekara played some fine strokes for the second innings in a row to make something out of this innings, but quickly ran out of partners as the tail fell as meekly as the batsmen. He was the last man out, blasting another ball to cover only for Tom Latham to take a sharp catch above his head.
(espncricinfo)
