Matt Henry who won the Player of the Match award in the 1st ODI of the Sri Lanka tour of New Zealand 2024-25 claims the team will face a big challenge in the second ODI set to be played at Hamilton on January 8.
Matt Henry played a vital role in New Zealand’s nine-wicket victory at the Wellington ODI. Henry bowled 10 overs and bagged four wickets at an economy of 1.90 which also includes a maiden over.
Henry stands as the best bowler across both innings as Santner’s 3.90 economy from seven overs stands next best in the game. While speaking during the post-match presentation, Matt Henry claims “taking wickets is important in this format”.
“Change of formats, getting back to ODI format, guys were excited. Great to get the series underway. We were trying to take it from both ends, taking wickets is important in this format. It is tough. Good thing of playing at home is adapting.
Guys were clear on how they wanted to operate. You always try to grow your game. You need to understand the job you need to do at home. It’s going to be a big challenge at Hamilton”, Matt Henry on winning the Player of the Match award for the 1st ODI vs SL.
During the Sri Lanka tour of New Zealand 2024-25, a total of three T20Is, three ODIs and a couple of practice matches have been scheduled to be played between 23 December 2024 and 11 January 2025.
Speaking of the match, New Zealand won the toss and opted to bowl first where Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando opened the inning for SL. NZ’s Matt Henry struck earlier and dismissed Nissanka for 9 in the fifth over while Jacob Duffy dismissed Kusal Mendis for 2 in the sixth over.
Soon Kamindu Mendis and SL skipper Asalanka lost their wickets for 3 and 0 respectively. With the top-order collapse, Sri Lanka struggles to build a partnership.
Avishka Fernando stood still on the one end but the followed batters failed to build a partnership. Janith Liyanage and Fernando made a partnership and scored 87 runs for the fifth wicket.
The long-struggled Avishka Fernando lost his wicket to Nathan Smith after securing a half-century. With Hasaranga’s 35, Sri Lanka managed to score 178 runs after losing 10 wickets in 43.4 overs.
On behalf of New Zealand, Matt Henry bagged four wickets while Jacob Duffy and Nathan Smith bagged two wickets each with skipper Santner bagging a wicket.
In their batting inning, the Kiwi made a strong opening partnership by adding 93 runs for the first wicket. Chamindu Wickramasinghe broke the partnership by dismissing Rachin Ravindra for 45 runs. With Will Young’s unbeaten 90 and Mark Chapman‘s 29, New Zealand chased the target in just 26.2 overs.
The second ODI of the series will be played on January 8 in Seddon Park, Hamilton. If you haven’t booked the tickets for the series, purchase the NZ vs SL 2024-25 tickets earlier in order not to miss the live action.
