Santner powers New Zealand A to 4-0 sweep

A day after he was included in the Test squad for the tour of Australia as a replacement for the injured Corey Anderson, allrounder Mitchell Santner blitzed an unbeaten 70 off 43 balls to set up a match-winning total for New Zealand A against Sri Lanka A at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval. After Santner led his team to 299, the New Zealand A attack routed the visitors in 25.4 overs to sweep the series 4-0 with a 172-run victory.

New Zealand A made a rapid start after choosing to bat, their openers adding 76 in ten overs, when Michael Pollard was out for 32 off 30 balls. They then lost wickets before they could get a sizeable partnership going and their position had eroded to 168 for 4 in the 32nd over. That was when Santner began his game-changing innings, smashing five fours and four sixes. He added 98 with Henry Nicholls, and then put on 33 off 11 balls with Tom Blundell, who made 18 off 9.

Sri Lanka A were never in the chase. Danushka Gunathilaka was the top-scorer with 39, and Ashan Priyanjan was the only other batsman to make it past 20. Neil Wagner, Matthew Quinn and Jacob Duffy took two wickets each to dismiss the visitors for 127.