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T20 World Cup 2026 | New Zealand sends Sri Lanka packing

admin — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 18:13:00 +0000

New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra and Tim Seifert have a chat after winning the T20 World Cup cricket match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
| Photo Credit: AP

Matt Henry silenced a full house at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday (February 25, 2026) when he breached Pathum Nissanka’s gate with a nip-backer and castled him off the first ball of Sri Lanka’s chase of 169.

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The host never really recovered from the morale-crushing fall of its in-form batter and eventually crashed out of the T20 World Cup with a 61-run loss to New Zealand, its second straight defeat in the Super Eight.

After Sri Lanka lost two early wickets, Kusal Mendis and Pavan Rathnayake attempted a recovery .But the end of their laborious 21-run third-wicket partnership off 36 balls sent Sri Lanka into a free fall.

The twin dismissals helped Rachin Ravindra achieve career-best figures of four for 27, with Dasun Shanaka and Dushan Hemantha also becoming his victims .Kamindu Mendis’ reverse sweeps off Ish Sodhi and Cole McConchie came too late to really swing the contest back in Sri Lanka’s favour.

He eventually pulled a half-tracker from Mitchell Santner to deep midwicket and departed for a 23-ball 31 as Sri Lanka ended at just 107 for eight.

The game slipped from Sri Lanka’s grasp in the last four overs of the first innings, where it leaked 70 runs to the unfancied pair of Santner (47, 26b, 2×4 , 4×6) and McConchie (31 n.o., 23b, 3×4, 2×6) .Their seventh-wicket partnership got New Zealand 84 off 47 balls, salvaging it from a precarious 84 for six.

Sri Lanka’s capitulation was unexpected after its spinners controlled the tempo of the New Zealand innings .Maheesh Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage extracted grip and turn to bring the Kiwis crashing from 75 for two to 84 for six. But they had little inkling that Santner and McConchie were about to break free and cast a pall over their evening.

The scores: New Zealand 168/7 in 20 overs (Rachin Ravindra 32, Mitchell Santner 47, Luke McConchie 31 n.o., Maheesh Theekshana 3/30, Dushmantha Chameera 3/38) bt Sri Lanka 107/8 in 20 overs (Kamindu Mendis 31, Matt Henry 2/3, Rachin Ravindra 4/27). Toss: Sri Lanka; PoM: Rachin.

Published – February 25, 2026 11:31 pm IST

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T20 World Cup: Sri Lanka, New Zealand meet in a crucial fixture

admin — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 15:08:00 +0000

Sri Lanka has turned Pathum to Nissanka for rapid starts at the top.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Marred by early setbacks, Sri Lanka and New Zealand will fight to salvage their campaigns when they meet in a Group 2 clash of the T20 World Cup Super Eight at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday.

For Sri Lanka, the optimism brought by the resounding win over Australia has been chipped away by the consecutive losses to Zimbabwe (final group match) and England (Super Eight). For New Zealand, the solitary point from its washed out game against Pakistan was barely a consolation.

A loss in its second match will leave the Kiwis clinging on to permutations for its qualification – still a better prospect than Sri Lanka’s, for which a reverse will draw the curtain on its semifinal hopes.

The host has the greater task at hand after its batting meltdown against England. Sri Lanka has turned to Pathum Nissanka for rapid bursts at the top, and New Zealand could prevent that by exploiting his weakness against the pace of Lockie Ferguson.

A lack of runs has riddled the middle-order until now, and the only batter with a decent run-tally, Pavan Rathnayake, could also find himself tied down by Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi. Scores of 170 or more have been chased down twice at this venue, and irrespective of when it bats, Sri Lanka would want the runs to stay in the reckoning.

As it is, New Zealand has enough batting resolve to deal with Sri Lanka’s upbeat spinners, who have shouldered the added responsibility amid injuries to the pace unit.

Maheesh Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage were a handful for the England top-order, but will face stiff resistance from Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell, whose strike rates inch close to 200 against spin.

If it can shake off the rust, having last taken the field last Tuesday, New Zealand looks well-equipped to see off Sri Lanka’s challenge.

Published – February 24, 2026 08:38 pm IST

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Sri Lanka beats New Zealand in 2nd ODI to win another home series

admin — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 22:36:31 +0000

Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis, left, shakes hands with Maheesh Theekshana after defeating New Zealand’s in the second ODI cricket match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, on Sunday (November 17, 2024).
| Photo Credit: AP

Kusal Mendis hit a patient 74 not out as Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by three wickets under the DLS method with six balls remaining on Sunday (November 17, 2024) in the rain-hit second ODI.

Sri Lanka took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series with the final game also at Pallekele on Tuesday (November 12, 2024). Sri Lanka won the first one-day international by 45 runs — also by DLS — after rain disrupted that game at Dambulla.

It was Sri Lanka’s fifth ODI series win at home in 2024 after it had beaten Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, India and West Indies. Sri Lanka couldn’t qualify for next year’s Champions Trophy after finishing ninth at last year’s 50-over World Cup in India, but has since then lost just one ODI series in Bangladesh while winning five at home.

“It is really tough for batters to score runs here,” Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said. “This is just another series. As a team, we are moving towards a big goal and we have to achieve that, this is a process.”

Mendis followed his career-best 143 in the series opener with a determined 102-ball knock as Sri Lanka reached 210-7 in 46 overs.

The match was cut to 47 overs-a-side after two rain interruptions when New Zealand batted and was bowled out for 209 in 45.1 overs. Sri Lanka was set a target of 210.

Off-spinner Michael Bracewell’s first four-wicket ODI haul (4-36) gave New Zealand a sniff when Sri Lanka slipped to 163-7 before Maheesh Theekshana (27 not out) shared a match-winning 47-run stand with Mendis and carried the team home.

Earlier, Sri Lanka grassed a few hard chances but Avishka Fernando took three spectacular catches after Asalanka won the toss and elected to field.

Mark Chapman ended his struggling batting form with 76 off 81 balls, but his dismissal in the 37th over would see New Zealand lose its last six wickets for 36 runs. Mitchell Hay made a well composed 49 off 62 balls and shared a 75-run stand with Chapman. Hay was the last man to be dismissed.

New Zealand struggled against a four-pronged spin attack with Theekshana (3-31) and Jeffrey Vandersay (3-46) sharing six wickets. Left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage, the only change Sri Lanka made from the team which won the first game, and Asalanka took one wicket each.

Bracewell mopped up the top order but Mendis stood firm as he completed his half century off 84 balls with four boundaries. He added 39 runs with Janith Liyanage and another 31 with Wellalage, who struck three successive boundaries in his 18-run knock against Nathan Smith before holing out at mid-on to give Bracewell his fourth wicket.

But Theekshana showed some aggression against pace, slicing fast bowler Jacob Duffy for the only six in the Sri Lanka chase and also struck two boundaries.

“It is always a challenge when you are defending a low score,” New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said. “Kusal played the situation very well … that partnership (between Kusal and Theekshana) at the end took it away, but we also left a few runs out there.”

Published – November 18, 2024 04:06 am IST

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Sri Lanka-New Zealand opening Test at Galle to have a rest day

admin — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 15:45:53 +0000

Sri Lanka’s opening Test against New Zealand at Galle next month will be a six-day affair with the provision of a rest day owing to the Presidential election in the island nation. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Sri Lanka’s opening Test against New Zealand at Galle next month will be a six-day affair with the provision of a rest day owing to the Presidential election in the island nation.

The Test, scheduled to commence on September 18, will have a rest day on September 21, “owing to the Presidential Election of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka”, said an ICC release on Friday (August 23, 2024).

It will be the first time in more than two decades that Sri Lanka is scheduled to host a Test across six days, with their match against Zimbabwe in Colombo in 2001 also including a rest day due to Poya Day (full moon), said the ICC.

The two-match series is part of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship cycle with the second Test scheduled at the same venue from September 26-30.

Rest days were a common feature in Test cricket in the last century, with several matches in the cricketing world being played across six days with Sunday usually being an off day.

More recently, Bangladesh played a Test-series opener against Sri Lanka in December 2008, which was a six-day affair because of a parliamentary election.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka are currently placed third and fourth respectively in the World Test Championship standings.

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