New Zealand win battle of islanders

Dunedin, New Zealand: New Zealand wrapped up their oneday series against Sri Lanka with a game to spare on Sunday when Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor orchestrated a 120-run win in game six. Williamson (97) and Taylor (96) provided the backbone of New Zealand’s 315-8 in their 50 overs and Sri Lanka were all out for 195 in the 41st over. The win puts New Zealand 4-1 up in the seven-match series with one game washed out, and captain Brendon McCullum declared himself satisfied with their World Cup build up. “It was a pretty clinical performance with the bat and I thought the bowlers certainly did a very good job. Overall another step forward for us and we’re very pleased with the series win,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of different plays. One is to be reasonably aggressive at the start, and if that doesn’t come off we know we’ve still got quality batsmen able to bat a lot of time and still score at a decent runs per over,” he added. But Sri Lanka, without their injured Lasith Malinga, have concerns about the quality of their attack.

Brief scores:

New Zealand 315/7 in 50 overs (M. Guptill c Sangakkara b Perera 28, K. Williamson run out 97, R. Taylor lbw

b Dilshan 96, C. Anderson c Perera b Herath 40, G. Elliott not out 21, D. Prasad

2/59 bt Sri Lanka 195 in 40.3 overs (L. Thirimanne c Ronchi b McClenaghan 29, T. Dilshan c Ronchi b Anderson 21, K.

Sangakkara c Vettori b Boult 81, D. Karunaratne c Mills b Anderson 26, C. Anderson 4/52, M. McClenaghan 2/29).