AUCKLAND: The recalled Doug Bracewell and debutant Scott Kuggeleijn excelled with bat and ball for New Zealand to beat Sri Lanka by 35 runs in the one-off Twenty20 International here at Eden Park on Friday.

It ended a dismal tour for the Sri Lankans with the drawn first Test followed by a succession of losses in the second Test, three ODIs and the Twenty20.

New Zealand, sent into bat, recovered from 55 for five to finish on 179 for seven with Bracewell (44) and Kuggeleijn (35 not out) the key contributors.

Although the target was not daunting, and Sri Lanka easily kept up with the required run-rate to be four for 118 after 12 overs.

But their last six wickets fell for the addition of only 26 more runs and the innings folded for 144 with 19 balls remaining.

Kuggeleijn and Bracewell both took wickets in their opening overs.

Kusal Perera, who raced to 22 off 12 deliveries was removed by Kuggeleijn’s third delivery while Niroshan Dickwella, who smacked a four and a six from the first two balls of the innings, went for 18 with the first ball from Bracewell.

Kuggeleijn and Bracewell also took the catches to dismiss Kusal Mendis (17) and Thisara Perera (43).

The first game all tour for Sadeera Samarawickrama was a short-lived affair when he was bowled first ball by Lockie Ferguson.

Ferguson finished with figures of 3-21 while Ish Sodhi took 3-30.

Sri Lanka did with the toss and put New Zealand into bat with impressive early results.

With a more disciplined bowling attack than was seen in the ODIs, and with astute field placements, Sri Lanka ripped through the New Zealand top order to have them four for 27 midway through the fourth over.

Ross Taylor, who tormented Sri Lanka in the ODIs, had to play a more circumspect role.

His first 11 runs were all singles from 22 deliveries before he first found the boundary on his way to 33 off 37.

Taylor’s patience, however, had set the stage for the Bracewell and Kuggeleijn to hit out and give the total some respectability.

Bracewell clubbed 44 off 26 balls including five sixes and a four while Kuggeleijn only faced 15 deliveries to be not out 35 with four sixes and a four.

New Zealand now prepare to host India in a series of ODIs while Sri Lanka head to Australia.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND:

M. Guptill c Mendis b Malinga 1C. Munro c Shanaka b Rajitha 16T. Seifert c Sandakan b Rajitha 2H. Nicholls b Malinga 4R. Taylor c Dickwella b Perera 33M. Santner c Perera b Sandakan 13D. Bracewell c de Silva b Rajitha 44S. Kuggeleijn not out 35T. Southee not out 13EXTRAS (B-2, LB-2, W-13, NB-1) 18TOTAL (for seven wkts, 20 overs) 179FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-11, 3-21, 4-27, 5-55, 6-102, 7-143BOWLING: Malinga 4-0-24-2 (1w); Rajitha 4-0-44-3 (1w); Perera 4-0-42-1 (1w); Kumara 4-0-24-0 (1w, 1nb); Sandakan 4-0-41-1 (5w)

SRI LANKA:

N. Dickwella c Seifert b Bracewell 18S. Samarawickrama b Ferguson 0K. Perera c Bracewell b Kuggeleijn 23B. Mendis c Kuggeleijn b Southee 17T. Perera c Bracewell b Ferguson 43D. de Silva b Ferguson 10D. Shanaka lbw b Sodhi 7K. Rajitha c Seifert b Sodhi 5L. Malinga c Guptill b Santner 6L. Kumara c Kuggeleijn b Sodhi 4L. Sandakan not out 1EXTRAS (W-10) 10TOTAL (all out, 16.5 overs) 144FALL OF WKTS: 1-11, 2-41, 3-45, 4-94, 5-118, 6-119, 7-128, 8-138, 9-142BOWLING: Ferguson 3-0-21-3 (1w); Southee 2-0-21-1 (1w); Kuggeleijn 3-0-26-1 (1w); Bracewell 2-0-19-1; Santner 3-0-27-1 (1w); Sodhi 3.5-0-30-3 (2w)RESULT: New Zealand won by 35 runs.UMPIRES: Shaun Haig, Wayne Knights (both New Zealand)TV UMPIRE: Chris Brown (New Zealand)MATCH REFEREE: Richie Richardson (West Indies)

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2019