Brendon McCullum blitzkrieg derails Sri Lanka in first ODI

A cracking half-century by Brendon McCullum set New Zealand up for a comfortable three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in their first one-day international in Christchurch on Sunday.

After McCullum’s 51 in 19 balls had provided his side a comfortable target well under four an over as they chased 219, Cor ey Anderson stepped up with 81 to ensure the job was done.

When Anderson was dismissed New Zealand required a further 10 runs which they achieved with seven overs remaining.

“I thought Corey under pressure really stepped up nicely and got the job done,” New Zealand skipper McCullum said, adding Anderson’s catch to remove Sri Lankan centurion Mahela Jayawardene was also crucial.

“That dismissal of Mahela when he was looking to pull the trigger at that stage, to get him with a very good outfield catch from Corey allowed us to get some momentum.”

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews believed the target they set New Zealand was 30-40 runs short of what was required.

“It wasn’t the easiest wicket to bat on. It was a little bit two-paced. It wasn’t coming on to the bat really well so we had to work really hard,” he said.

“The batters had to hang in there and try and rotate the strike but we kept losing wickets.”

Sri Lanka, electing to bat first, posted 218/9 on the back of Jayawardene’s 104 in 107 balls.

It was the 18th ODI century for the 37-year-old, the fifth highest run-scorer in the history of the shortened game, who was rarely in trouble by the New Zealand attack until caught in a wicket meltdown late in the late innings.

Although Jayawardene received little support in the middle, Sri Lanka had reason to believe their modest target was defendable when they removed Martin Guptill on the third ball of New Zealand’s reply.

Sri Lanka: D. Karunaratne lbw Milne 5, T. Dilshan st Ronchi b N. McCullum 19, K. Sangakkara c Williamson b Milne 4, M. Jayawardene c Anderson b McClenaghan 104, A. Mathews (run out) 15, L. Thirimanne c Williamson b McClenaghan 23, J. Mendis c B. McCullum b McClenaghan 23, T. Perera c Ronchi b McClenaghan 0, N. Kulasekara (not out) 6, S. Senanayake c Ronchi b Anderson 7, S. Eranga (not out) 5. Extras: (w7) 7. Total: (for 9 wkts, in 50 overs) 218. FoW: 1-10, 2-16, 3-51, 4-82, 5-155, 6-200, 7-200, 8-200, 9-213. Bowling: Boult 10-1-46-0, Milne 10-1-37-2, McClenaghan 10-1-36-4, Anderson 10-0-61-1, N. McCullum 10-1-38-1. New Zealand: M. Guptill c Dilshan b Kulasekara 0, B. McCullum st Sangakkara b Senanayake 51, K. Williamson c Jayawardene b Senanayake 15, T. Latham st Sangakkara b Dilshan 15, G. Elliott b Kulasekara 1, C. Anderson lbw Dilshan 81, L. Ronchi c Mathews b Eranga 17, N. McCullum (not out) 25, A. Milne (not out) 7. Extras: (lb5, w2) 7. Total: (for 7 wkts, in 43 overs) 219. FoW: 1-0, 2-63, 3-76, 4-77, 5-101, 6-149, 7-209. Bowling: Kulasekara 10-1-43-2, Eranga 6-0-49-1, Senanayake 10-0-43-2, Mathews 2-0-17-0, Dilshan 7-0-28-2, Perera 7-0-29-0, Mendis 1-0-5-0.