FULL COVERAGE: New Zealand v Sri Lanka in Florida 2010
Sri Lanka 86-3 (15.3 overs) beat New Zealand 81 (17.3 overs) by seven wickets
Sri Lankan seamer Nuwan Kulasekera took three wickets in his opening over to hurt New Zealand and bowl them out for 81 runs in the second Twenty20 international in Lauderhill, Florida.
Severe damage was inflicted in the second over with the Kiwis reeling on 8 for 4 as fans trickled through turnstiles at Broward County Regional Park for the early 12 noon match.
Earlier, Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat on the slow surface. He later stitched a partnership with Nathan McCullum (36 not out), who was ultimately left stranded following Lasith Malinga’s fiery spell.
For the Sri Lankans, a positive start from Jayawardene led a chase of just 82 runs for victory. Young Thissera Perera was promoted in the batting order and played an entertaining cameo of 24 runs off 17 balls. In the eighth over Perera smashed Tim Southee for two successive boundaries, including a six over long-on, which sent the cheerleaders running for cover.
TM Dilshan guided Sri Lanka to their first win in the U.S. with an unbeaten 33 runs. Nuwan Kulasekera was awarded Man of the Match and Daniel Vettori was awarded Man of the Series.
