Tillikaratane Dilshan eased to his 19th one-day international century to anchor his side to a six-wicket victory over New Zealand in the second game of their seven-match series at Seddon Park in Hamilton yesterday.
Dilshan scored 116 from 127 balls in Sri Lanka’s 252-4 as the visitors leveled the series at 1-1 after New Zealand won the first game at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Sunday.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews was 39 not out with Lahiru Thirimanne on 2 as the visitors chased down New Zealand’s 248 all out in 47.4 overs.
Photo: AFP
Dilshan was the key for the visitors, combining with fellow opener Dimuth Karunaratne (21) in a 64-run opening stand before he scored 52 runs with Kumar Sangakkara (38) and 47 with Mahela Jayawardene (27) and 74 runs with Mathews that kept the scoreboard ticking over at almost a run a ball.
The righthander brought up his century with a wonderful cover drive for his 13th boundary and let out an almighty bellow, then set about finishing the game in a hurry, belting Adam Milne for three boundaries in the 45th over.
He was dismissed in the next over when pace bowler Matt Henry, who is not in the World Cup squad, had him caught by wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi from a short ball. Henry finished with 2-34 from 9.4 overs.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum had earlier blasted 12 boundaries and five sixes to score 117, his fifth one-day international century for his side, the only other bright spot in a otherwise poor performance from the hosts.
There were four run-outs and McCullum and Ross Taylor also narrowly avoided being dismissed in similar fashion.
Opener Martin Guptill is also still out of form, while the free-flowing Taylor scratched together 34 runs from 69 balls, though he was not the only specialist batsmen to struggle against Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers.
The third match is at Eden Park in Auckland tomorrow.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS