Sri Lanka got a consolation win in the last match in ODI like T20. The visitors beat New Zealand by a huge margin of 140 runs in the last ODI of the series in Auckland. This is also the second big margin victory for the Lankans in the ODI version against the Kiwis. Jayasuriya-Jayawardene lost by 189 runs in Auckland in 2007. The series has already been confirmed by the Kiwis. The Lankans ended the series with a 2-1 margin.
Sri Lankan captain Charit Asalanka decided to bat before the toss at Eden Park. Patum Nisanka (66), Kushal Mendis (54) and Dunit Lianag (53) scored 290 runs for 8 wickets in fifty. Matt Henry took 4 wickets. Chasing Sri Lanka's target of 291 runs, New Zealand were bowled out for 150 runs in 29.4 overs. Among them, 81 runs came from the bat of Mark Chapman, who came down to bat at number three. Among the Lankan bowlers, pacer Asita Fernando, Ishan Malinga and spinner Mahesh Tiksana took 3 wickets each.
Sri Lanka broke the 9-year ODI win drought in New Zealand with a great win. They last won an ODI in New Zealand in December 2015 in Nelson. However, it is difficult for New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner to accept defeat in the last ODI match. After the match he said 'It's a bit disappointing, maybe this is not how we wanted to end the series. Credit must be given to Sri Lanka; They put good runs on the board and challenged us early on. It was quite difficult to come back from there.'
Santaner is not satisfied with winning the series. Lessons to be learned from this match, they said, 'They swung well and made it challenging for us. We did that throughout the series. We'll take it…there are a lot of positives from the series, the boys played their part, the boys performed very well, against a strong team. The depth of their squad is also impressive. We are going to Pakistan, the environment will change there, so we will try to adapt by preparing as much as possible.'
Sri Lankan pacer Asita Fernando was the man of the match with 3 wickets for 26 runs. New Zealand pacer Matt Henry became the series best with 9 wickets in 3 matches.
