Feature

Dilshan slides...and connects

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the seventh ODI in Wellington

Tillakaratne Dilshan sprained a wrist after clattering into the stumps  •  Getty Images

Tillakaratne Dilshan sprained a wrist after clattering into the stumps  •  Getty Images

The stump-breaking slide
Tillakaratne Dilshan ran 55 of his 81 runs in Wellington, but none more urgently than the single that took him to his fifty. Pushing the ball defensively to the off side, Dilshan called his partner through for the run, but found halfway down the track that the fielder at cover had made good ground. He had run right down the middle of the pitch in his haste, and when he dove to ensure he'd make his ground, he went clattering into the stumps at the other end, spraining a wrist in the process. He was not admonished by the umpires for treading on the wicket though, and continued to do so for much of the remainder of his knock.
The déjà vu in inverse
In the fifth ODI in Dunedin, Martin Guptill had been out first ball of the innings as a wide Nuwan Kulasekara ball took his outside edge and flew to the keeper. In Wellington, Guptill collected another golden duck, though this time it was his other edge that was beaten, by the same bowler. Planting his front foot on off stump to a length ball, Guptill failed to adjust to the seam off the deck, and was struck in front by a ball heading towards middle and leg stump.
The non-turning mystery ball
Dilshan has developed into a reliable offspin option over the last few years, and on Thursday, he unveiled what he perhaps hoped would add a new dimension to his bowling. In the 28th over, Dilshan sent down the first of his carrom balls, and though he had fired it down the legside, he managed to dismiss Kane Williamson, who had got himself into a tangle advancing to the ball. Replays showed the ball had not even turned a fraction, however, and throughout the evening, none of Dilshan's carrom balls would take any spin.
The nutmeg
Daniel Vettori had been whipping everything off his legs brutally into the leg side all evening, but Seekkuge Prasanna found a way through them in the 42nd over. Vettori walked down the pitch to the legspinner, but as the ball drifted and dipped, only ended up yorking himself. The ball passed between his boots, and Prasanna, who is enlisted in Sri Lanka's army, gave Vettori a see-you-later salute.

Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando