RESULT
1st ODI, Christchurch, December 26, 2015, Sri Lanka tour of New Zealand
(21/50 ov, T:189) 191/3

New Zealand won by 7 wickets (with 174 balls remaining)

Player Of The Match
4/49
matt-henry
New
NZ
Full commentary
end of over 218 runs
NZ: 191/3CRR: 9.09 
Henry Nicholls23 (21b 5x4)
Ross Taylor5 (9b)
Ajantha Mendis 5-0-49-0
Milinda Siriwardana 5-0-45-2

4:49pm: New Zealand have bossed their way to a seven-wicket victory with 29 overs to spare! After Henry's four-for helped New Zealand keep Sri Lanka to 188, Baz and Guptill opened the chase with a flurry of boundaries. Baz blazed to a 23-ball fifty while Guptill wasn't far behind. Siriwardana, who had earlier made a solid fifty to help the visitors recover, nipped out both the New Zealand openers, but Nicholls finished off the chase with successive fours. Vishal's report will tell you the full story.

That is all we have for you. Thanks for your company and comments. Do come back for the second ODI. Until then, this is Deivarayan Muthu signing off.

Presentation

Mathews: Winning the toss was crucial. Unfortunately, we kept losing wickets in 10 overs. It was a good effort from Kulasekara and Siriwardana. They bowled well and we couldn't handle it. It was just that we could not negotiate the 10 overs. It is not easy to bowl at Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill. They are power hitters and we need to shove it under the carpet. It has to be a quick turnaround for us.

Baz: I thought both Milne and Henry were outstanding. We have two wonderful bowlers in Southee and Boult, they have been the kingpins, but the others have stepped up. It was a 280-290 par wicket. Martin stuck the ball clean and he deserved the runs. Great crowd, and we go again in 48 hours. We will have a quiet day tomorrow. We are starting to build some depth.

Henry, Man of the Match: It is fantastic to be back in the side. I was just working on getting the rhythm back. For Canterbury, I have always had the new ball. I am also developing into a change-up role. The crowd was awesome.

20.6
4
Mendis to Nicholls, FOUR runs

Nicholls, the debutant, puts the seal on NZ's thumping win! Mendis serves up another short ball outside off, this is cracked away past backward point. Nicholls takes in the applause from the home crowd

20.5
4
Mendis to Nicholls, FOUR runs

filthy long hop outside off, Nicholls goes deep in the crease and rattles a pull over midwicket

20.4
Mendis to Nicholls, no run

short ball on middle, punched to mid-off

20.3
Mendis to Nicholls, no run

full and on middle, patted to mid-off off the front foot

20.2
Mendis to Nicholls, no run

pushed through outside off, guided to backward point

20.1
Mendis to Nicholls, no run

fired outside off at 96ks, slapped to cover

end of over 204 runs
NZ: 183/3CRR: 9.15 RRR: 0.20
Henry Nicholls15 (15b 3x4)
Ross Taylor5 (9b)
Milinda Siriwardana 5-0-45-2
Ajantha Mendis 4-0-41-0
19.6
1
Siriwardana to Nicholls, 1 run

tucked off the back foot to deep midwicket

19.5
1
Siriwardana to Taylor, 1 run

Taylor uses his feet again, pushed smoothly to long-off

19.4
Siriwardana to Taylor, no run

drifts in on middle, blocked on the front foot

19.3
1
Siriwardana to Nicholls, 1 run

flighted and outside off, swept away for one

19.2
1
Siriwardana to Taylor, 1 run

picked off the pads through midwicket

19.1
Siriwardana to Taylor, no run

flighted on off, Taylor skips out and drives to cover

Mathews is rotating the bowlers around. Siri...

end of over 198 runs
NZ: 179/3CRR: 9.42 RRR: 0.32
Henry Nicholls13 (13b 3x4)
Ross Taylor3 (5b)
Ajantha Mendis 4-0-41-0
Tillakaratne Dilshan 2-0-10-1
18.6
Mendis to Nicholls, no run

full on middle, the debutant bends forward to defend

18.5
Mendis to Nicholls, no run

tossed up on middle, blocked

18.4
Mendis to Nicholls, no run

fired quick at 93ks, raps the pad... Oh wait, Nicholls had jammed it onto his pad off an inside edge to weather the lbw shout

18.3
Mendis to Nicholls, no run

flat and on the pads, swept away... the man at forward short leg takes a blow on his ankle

18.2
4
Mendis to Nicholls, FOUR runs

full and outside off, laced past the covers for back-to-back fours

18.1
4
Mendis to Nicholls, FOUR runs

speared short and down the leg side, tripe ball, helped away fine for four

Mendis comes back on.

end of over 183 runs
NZ: 171/3CRR: 9.50 RRR: 0.56
Ross Taylor3 (5b)
Henry Nicholls5 (7b 1x4)
Tillakaratne Dilshan 2-0-10-1
Milinda Siriwardana 4-0-41-2
17.6
Dilshan to Taylor, no run

pitched up on middle, Taylor gets across in defence

17.6
1w
Dilshan to Taylor, 1 wide

slanted down the leg side, wide called