NZ chase down 198 in 23 overs

Nov 12, 2013

After the previous match in Hambantota was rained out, both teams hoped for clear skies. Kyle Mills, the acting New Zealand captain, made the first inroad when he removed opener Dimuth Karunaratne for 4•AFP

The pair looked set for the long haul as they began to play with fluency. However, a bolt of lightning in the middle of the 21st over meant the match was stopped for safety reasons•Associated Press

Sangakkara played some cheeky shots through fine leg to add some much needed boundaries as Sri Lanka finished on 138 for 1. Sangakkara was unbeaten on 71, while Dilshan added 55 not out•AFP

Latham continued to go strong, reaching a maiden ODI fifty off 45 balls•AFP

Ronchi and Latham put on 93 in 9.3 overs to bring the equation down to 42 required off 24, much to the disbelief of the Sri Lankans. However, Ronchi fell early in the 21st over, just one run shy of what would have been his first ODI fifty as a New Zealand player•AFP

Tillakaratne Dilshan played patiently early on as he looked to build a partnership with the No. 3, Kumar Sangakkara •Associated Press

The rain lashed Hambantota for over five hours as the ground staff worked tirelessly to mitigate any water damage •AFP

With a revised target of 198 in 23 overs, New Zealand had a mountain to climb. Nuwan Kulasekera gave them no respite early on as he removed both Anton Devcich and Rob Nicol off consecutive balls with the score on just 8•AFP

With Colin Munro, Latham added 34 runs, before Munro became Senanayke's second victim•AFP

All hopes lay on Latham, but just three balls later he too met his demise when he holed out to Senanayake at point, leaving New Zealand with 33 to get off 12•AFP

When play resumed, Sri Lanka's innings was shortened to 23 overs on account of the time lost during the rain delay. That meant they had just 14 balls to get as many runs as possible•AFP

After putting on a brief stand with opener Tom Latham, Grant Elliot was dismissed when he advanced down the track to Sachithra Senanayake, only to misread the line as Sangakkara whipped off the bails •AFP

Luke Ronchi was the next batsman in as New Zealand still required 130 off 73 balls. The began trying their best to narrow the gap•AFP

It was left to James Neesham and Nathan McCullum to get New Zealand home, and they did. With 20 required off the final over, McCullum hit three sixes and a four to seal an improbable victory for the visitors, sending them 1-0 up in the series•AFP