Dinesh Chandimal was not out 27 at the end as the match followed the same formula as the first two where the team that lost the toss batted second and dominated. Gunathilaka said it was a must-win game and non-playing speedster Suranga Lakmal sharpened the players up when he hit several in the nets the previous day. "That's true, we talked about that and how now we are okay," he said. "Angelo (Mathews) and (Milinda) Siriwardana were hit on the head and Dilshan hit in the face. "We talked about how we have to be positive and we can't have negative thoughts because certainly this New Zealand side is a very strong side and they are a very good bowling attack." New Zealand now lead the series 2-1 with two matches remaining. Batting first in the opening matches on faster wickets in Christchurch, Dilshan, Thirimanne and Gunathilaka posted a total of 43 runs from their combined six innings.
Scoreboard
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New Zealand
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M. Guptill c Dilshan b Chameera 30
T. Latham c Pradeep b Vandersay 42
Williamson c Chameera b Siriwardana 59
R. Taylor c Mathews b Vandersay 0
H. Nicholls b Chameera 20
M. Santner runout Chameera 38
L. Ronchi c Kapugedera b Pradeep 7
D. Bracewell c sub b Pradeep 30
A. Milne not out 17
T. Southee not out 18
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Extras: (lb4, w10, nb1) 15
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Total: (8 wkts, 50 overs) 276
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Fall of wickets: 1-42 (Guptill), 2-102 (Latham), 3-102 (Taylor), 4-143 (Nicholls), 5-163 (Williamson), 6-191 (Ronchi), 7-215 (Santner), 8-257 (Bracewell)
Bowling: Pradeep 10-0-55-2 (w1), Chameera 10-0-38-2 (w1), Dilshan 8-1-43-0, Kulasekara 5-0-31-0 (w4), Mathews 2-0-17-0 (w1), Vandersay 10-1-55-2 (w3, nb1), Siriwardana 5-0-33-1
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Sri Lanka
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D. Gunathilaka c Taylor b McClenaghan 65
T. Dilshan run out Taylor/Ronchi 91
L. Thirimanne not out 87
D. Chandimal not out 27
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Extras: (w6, nb 1) 7
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Total: (2 wkts; 46.2 overs) 277
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Fall of wickets: 1-98 (Gunathilaka), 2-209 (Dilshan)
Bowling: Southee 6-0-44-0, Milne 6-0-50-0, Bracewell 6.2-0-45-0, McClenaghan 9-0-39-1, Santner 10-0-59-0, Williamson 8-0-38-0, Guptill 1-0-2-0
Result: Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets
Toss: New Zealand
Series: New Zealand 2-1
Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZL), Michael Gough (ENG)
TV umpire: Richard Illingworth (ENG)
Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM).