New Zealand's Will Young celebrates scoring 50 runs during the first ODI international cricket match against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve, Wellington. Young finished unbeaten on 90, 5 January 2025. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand have produced a dominant performance to comprehensively beat Sri Lanka in the first of three one-day internationals a chilly Basin Reserve in Wellington.
Will Young followed up a brilliant team effort in the field with an assured, unbeaten knock of 90 as the Black Caps cruised to a nine-wicket victory.
They took full advantage of skipper Mitchell Santner's decision to put the tourists into bat in conditions favouring seam bowling, with a nasty southerly causing discomfort to players and spectators.
Matt Henry and Jacob Duffy struck early for the Black Caps, and then Santner ran out Kamindu Mendis with a sharp piece of fielding,
At the end of 10 overs, the tourists were 23 for four, with opener Avishka Fernando their big hope.
He batted superbly in the conditions, combining with Janith Liyanage in an 87 run partnership that was the bedrock of their innings.
Fernando scored 56 off 63 balls and Liyanage 36 off 54, but both were out with the score on 110, and it took some adventurous hitting from Wanindu Hasaranga (35 off 33) to get them to 178. His partnership of 48 with Chamindu Wickramasinghe (22 off 42) was the second highest of the innings, b.
Henry finished with four for 19 off his 10 overs, while Duffy took two for 39 off 8.4 overs. Nathan Smith chimed in with two for 43, while Santner was tight with his spinners taking one wickets for 27 off his seven overs.
New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra , left, and Will Young during the first ODI international cricket match against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve, Wellington, 5 January, 2025. Photo: Photosport
The New Zealanders were able to avoid the early innings horrors experienced by Sri Lanka, with Young and Rachin Ravindra combining in a 93-run partnership before Ravindra mistimed one and was caught on 45.
Young continued on, seldom looking troubled, and one memorable shot was a leg glance for four despite falling to the turf.
He had a good foil in Mark Chapman, who was unbeaten on 29 when Young hit the winning runs.
Player of the match Matt Henry, who took three of his wickets bowling into the energy-sapping wind, said being able to adapt to the demanding conditions was a big part of the win.
"The key thing in one-day cricket is taking wickets,'' he told Sky Sport.
While bowling into the wind is tough, the good thing about playing at home was understanding how to attack at both ends, Henry said.
"The guys were clear with how they wanted to operate and they I think they executed really well."
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said his players knew it would be windy and the Kiwi bowlers would be tough, but his side simply did not bat well enough.
"We lost four wickets in the power play. That makes it really hard to come back again,'' he told Sky.
The second match is at Hamilton on Wednesday.
