NZ Black Caps continue home streak with Sri Lanka ODI victory

New Zealand have extended their dominant home record in ODI cricket, beating Sri Lanka by 113 runs on Wednesday night to claim the series 2-0 in Hamilton.

The Black Caps have now won 16 ODIs at home and lost just one since 2020, making them the most dominant team in the format on their own turf over the last five years.

Wednesday’s victory was a mirror-image of the first ODI between the two sides on Wellington, with the hosts thoroughly out-batting and out-bowling Sri Lanka.

This time, New Zealand batted first in a rain-affected match, posting 255/9 from their 37 overs.

Their score could have been much more as well, had it not been for a hattrick to Maheesh Theekshana which swung momentum towards Sri Lanka late in the Kiwi innings.

Still, scores of 79 from 63 by Rachin Ravindra and 62 from 52 by Mark Chapman earlier were enough to give the home side a competitive total, despite the late slowdown.

In response, the visitors had little to offer, with the exception of Kamindu Mendis (64 from 66).

Pathum Nissanka (1), Avishka Fernando (10), Kusal Mendis (2) and Charith Asalanka (4) all fell cheaply, leaving Kamindu to drag Sri Lanka toward their target.

When he fell in the 29th over the writing was on the wall, and the tail folded quickly to hand New Zealand a 113-run victory.

“I think we opened up pretty well,” Kiwi captain Mitchell Santner said after the match.

“We lost wickets at times, but I think still pretty happy with the score on a wicket that offer a little bit.

“It was still very competitive, knew we had to bowl really well at the start.”

Sri Lanka’s Asalanka was less pleased with the match, emphasising the need for his side’s performance to improve in the format.

“It was a fair pitch, bad batting in the powerplay cost us the game,” he said.

“Trying to find a way to get things right in ODI.”

Despite the heavy victory, cricket bookmakers still view the Kiwis as longshots heading into the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy starting next month in Pakistan.

New Zealand sit on the sixth line of betting to win the tournament ($8) at Picklebet, behind favourites India ($2.87) as well as Australia ($4.50), South Africa ($7), England ($7) and Pakistan ($7.50).

However, top betting apps do favour the Black Caps to win the third ODI against Sri Lanka on Saturday, January 11.

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