A comprehensive performance with both bat and ball from New Zealand A has seen them beat Sri Lanka A by eight wickets in their opening One Dayer at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
Competing with strong winds, the spin duo of Mitchell Santner (4-38) and Ish Sodhi (3-28) bowled excellently to restrict Sri Lanka to 214 in the first innings. George Worker then anchored the chase with a superb unbeaten knock of 83 to secure the result after 39.3 overs.
Scorecard
The visitors were asked to bat first by NZ A and laid strong early foundations through half centuries from Danushka Gunathilaka (57) and Kithuruwan Vithanage (58).
The pair combined to take their side to 134-1 in the 28th over and looked on track to post a competitive total. That plan fell apart rapidly though, with NZ A collecting the remaining nine wickets for just 80 runs.
Sodhi dismissed both of the established batsmen in quick succession and Santner proceeded to tear through the Sri Lankan middle order.
Neil Wagner chipped in with two wickets, including the final scalp to end the tourists’ innings at 214 all out after 45.3 overs.
NZ A’s pursuit never looked out of hand, with skipper Hamish Rutherford (43) and his opening partner Michael Pollard (59) putting on 53 for the first wicket.
Pollard was joined by Worker in the 10th over and together they added 117 runs to get NZ within striking distance at 169-1.
A cameo of 27 from Henry Nicholls assisted Worker in seeing NZ A get across the line for a comfortable first up victory.
The two sides meet at the same venue for their second One Day match on Wednesday.
