Sri Lanka vs New Zealand, 2nd ODI at Hambantota, , Nov 12 2013 - Match Result

Well there you have it. New Zealand achieve an improbable victory, when it appeared that they were merely doing the motions to try and get to the end without the indignity of being dismissed all out. N-Mac did a wonderful turn to club those runs, and New Zealand will take this momentum into the next match in Dambulla. On behalf of Devashish Fuloria and the scorers, this is Rohan Sharma saying good night, and good luck.

Kyle Mills, New Zealand captain: Yeah it's a pretty happy change room up there. Latham set it up for us and a number of guys did their job with the bat. Nice to finish it off the way we did. We have always had belief and backed our skills to do the job, but at the end of the day we have to come on the field and play winning cricket. Yeah I think we are leaking a few too many four balls and we are bowling slightly better than we did in the first game. We bowl well initially but then we let go off the pressure with a bad ball. We have to fix that up ahead of Dambulla. It's remarkable how much the game has changed over the last 3-4 years. Saw the games in India and who would have thought that 320-340 was a par score. It's up to the bowlers to go back to the drawing board and make new plans. There are opportunities for guys to step up, but as I said before, we are here to play winning cricket. The guys try really hard to put a result on the board. I am really enjoying the captaincy.The Game is a lot faster than I expected. Thought I could just stand at third man or fine leg (chuckles). It was a good result tonight.

Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka captain: Yea actually the batters did everything right. We did well to get the score we did, but then we got complacent after that. Most times batting second it would work for us. But 200 runs to get in 23 overs a night game, our bowling should have done the job, but we got complacent and the bowlers were making errors after the 10th over. I went for the best bowler (Rangana Herath) for the final over and would have chosen that anyways. The seniors came to the party once again, especially after losing first wicket in the first over. Unfortunately the bowlers could not pull through for us today. Pretty happy with the way I am going and pretty happy with the way I batted in the last game.

Tom Latham, Man of the Match: It is obviously very pleasing to get the win and go to Dambulla 1-0 nil up. After losing to Bangladesh 3-0 was tough. Wecame here with a young group. Nice to win the second one so really happy about that. The new rules certainly help when it comes to chasing those big scores. Big guys can clear the ropes when they want.

Now quotes from the match presentation

Hellooo, where did that come from! Nathan McCullum as done an ABdV here! Sri lanka would have thought the game was in their pocket at the start of the last over, but out from nowhere, Nathan McCullum has pulled out a blinder. 32 from 9 balls. This was not an easy target for an inexperienced attack and they lost a chunk of wickets at the start. But a super innings by Latham first, then Ronchi, then the clean finish. For a moment, it looked like Malinga had pulled it back for Sri Lanka, but it was not to be. And we thought that rain was going to be the winner. New Zealand go 1-0 in the three-match series.

Shiju R: "I bet that is Brendon playing in Nathans jersey"

Michael T: "Un-be-liev-a-ble. How many ups and downs can a game have? The moral of the story is: even Misters Duckworth and Lewis can perform better than NZ's bowlers... Take the bowling element out of NZ's game and we'll do fine! haha great game"

Burton DeWitt: "As I said at the start of the innings, 198 seemed fair under the circumstances. Well done NZ."

Talal Dar: "And this is another thing that has not changed in Cricket. Spinners getting hit for sixes in last over. McCullum has done a Mike Hussey and Herath has done an Ajmal"

Treser: "I feel sorry for Ishant Sharma. Recently several bowlers have been hit for 25 odd runs an over but he is the only one dropped. It must be his hair, I reckon."

Ishant sharma: "Been there. Done that !"

Sri Lanka have given it away! What a nightmare for Herath, what inspirational play by McNath

Seven off two..

Still, three boundaries needed

Gururaj: "There is only one thing that hasn't changed from decades in ODI cricket is when you bowl yorkers at a decent pace ball after ball, you can keep the scoring rate in check.."

20 needed off the last over! Herath it will be to bowl the last one

TasmanBro: "Exchange offer - take Ronchi back, give us Faulkner for the next two overs .."

vishal: "Nathan will have to do a Brendon here..."

More of Malinga

greg: "How cricket has changed in the last 10 years. his would have been game over - but when you see whats been happening lately (AB final over 2 nights ago etc.) - you just never know anymore ..."

Kula has four, and that over has taken the life out of the chase. Is there a last throw of dice from NZ?

Nathan McCullum is in.

Mahesh: "Did NZ lose the plot? They were going so strong, but Malinga's 1 over has pegged them back so much so that they don't know how to put bat to ball!"

Uwaisul Karnain: "There comes the experience, has Malinga done the job for SL with that last over? "

Excellent over, despite those extras