Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum steer Black Caps to win in first ODI

NZ-vs-SL-first-ODIWellington , December 26 : Brendon McCullum’s love affair with Hagley Oval continued, along with Martin Guptill’s dream year, as New Zealand trounced Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the first one-day international.

The Black Caps opening pair put on 108 in 10 overs, and easily accounted for Sri Lanka’s total of 188, chasing it three down. It was an abject performance from the tourists, following on from their 2-0 Test series loss, and suggests they will struggle for the remainder of the five-match ODI series.

While the Sri Lanka top order capitulated after winning the toss, it was the opposite for McCullum and Guptill.

Captain McCullum’s 55 off 25 balls came exactly a year after his brutal Boxing Day 195 off 134 balls against Sri Lanka to christen Hagley Oval on the first day of the ground’s inaugural Test.

His only two other ODIs at the venue were  against Sri Lanka this year, scoring 51 off 22 and 65 off 49.

While McCullum struck 11 fours and a six, Guptill scored nine fours and four sixes in his 79 off 55 balls.

The clean-hitting opener has scored a world-leading 1366 ODI runs in the year, moving ahead of teammate Kane Williamson, who sat the game out with a knee niggle.

Williamson was replaced by Tom Latham, who fell for 18 before Ross Taylor (5 not) and Henry Nicholls (23 not out) saw the Black Caps home. It was a promising debut  by left-hander Nicholls, who scored at better than a run a ball.

Left-arm spinner Milinda Siriwardana removed both openers by tempting them into loose shots, taking 2-45 to back up his top score for Sri Lanka of 66 off 82 balls.

The tourists’ hopes had virtually disappeared when they slumped to 5-27, destroyed by Matt Henry’s devastating opening spell of 4-26.

Siriwardana and Nuwan Kulasekara (58) put on 98, a Sri Lanka record for the seventh wicket against New Zealand.

Right-arm paceman Henry (4-49) bowled with zip and late movement, removing Tillakaratne Dilshan (9), Lahiru Thirimanne (1) and Dinesh Chandimal (5) before snaring captain Angelo Mathews for a golden duck.

Adam Milne (1-30) impressed as much as Henry, bowling at close to 150km/h in his return to the Black Caps. Their pace attack  comprised  Milne, Henry, Doug Bracewell (3-37 off nine overs) and Mitchell McClenaghan (2-40), along with spinner Mitchell Santner (0-32 off eight).