Black Caps' Martin Guptill vs Sri Lanka at Bay Oval. Photo/George Novak
Black Caps' Martin Guptill vs Sri Lanka at Bay Oval. Photo/George Novak
6.45pm It's all over at Bay Oval. The Black Caps cleaned up the tail with Tauranga's Trent Boult snaring the final wicket in the 36-run victory. The crowd is streaming out of Bay Oval thrilled with a great game of cricket and the promise of more to come on Thurday, when the two teams meet in a Twenty20 international from 3pm.
6.37pm Angelo Mathews is out for 95, very well caught by Henry Nichols, as Sri Lanka slump to 257/9. It looks like the Black Caps will prevail and take the ODI series. Matt Henry has taken five wickets.
5.45pm Sri Lanka need a further 79 runs off 12 overs at 6.00 RPO to defeat the Black Caps. Captain Angelo Mathews is batting beautifully on 84 off 91 balls.
5.15pm Sri Lanka's fourth wicket partnership of 93 is all over after Dinesh Chandimal was out for 50, caught Williamson, bowled Boult at 126/4.
Captain Angelo Mathews is 50 not out and has gone past 4000 international ODI runs. He is destined to be a key figure in the outcome of the match.
4.45pm Sri Lankan batsmen Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews are fighting back at Bay Oval with a partnership of 61 to push their side along to 94/3 off 23 overs. Black Caps pace man Adam Milne has bowled the fastest ball of the day of 150km.
4.15pm Sri Lanka have lost three early wickets in persuit of 294 scored by the Black Caps at Bay Oval. The last to fall was opener Danushk Gunathilaka for 15. Sri Lanka are 50/3 after 15 overs.
3.45pm Tauranga's Trent Boult has removed Sri Lankan danger man Tillakaratne Dilshan in the third over.
Matt Henry chimed in with another quick wicket to leave Sri Lanka 30/2 after eight overs.
2.38pm Sri Lanka's bowlers fought back well in the final overs to restrict the Black Caps to 294/5 off their 50 overs batting first at Bay Oval. Mitchell Santner hit the final two deliveries for straight sixes to boost the final total.
Martin Guptill (102), Ross Taylor (61) and captain Kane Williamson (61) were the main scorers with Nuwan Kulasekara taking 3/49 for Sri Lanka.
The Black Caps total is probably 20 runs short of what they would have wanted after 30 overs but it certainly sets up a wonderful run chase for the crowd of over 8,000 to enjoy this afternoon.
Sri Lanka begin their run chase at 3.15pm.
2.05pm The Black Caps are still on target to score around 300 at Bay Oval. With six overs left they are on 238/4 with Ross Taylor 54 not out, after bringing up his half century in style by smashing a six into the bumper crowd at deep midwicket. Luke Ronchi is 19 not out.
1.37pm Martin Guptill has led the way for the Black Caps scoring his 10th ODI century in glorious batting conditions at the Bay Oval. Guptill faced just 108 deliveries and hit nine fours and three sixes before being caught in the deep for 102.
Ross Taylor is on 37 with the Black Caps in a strong position at 206/3 in the 38th over and well set for a powerful surge towards 300 in the final 10 overs.
1.05pm The Black Caps are cruising along batting first at Bay Oval and have reached 157/2 after 31 overs.
Martin Guptill continues on seemingly untroubled to be 77 not out after 31 overs. Ross Taylor is 15 not out and the Black Caps run rate is a healthy 5.06 runs. The base is being set for some big hitting fire works to come in the final 10 overs.
A cricket fan navigates his way through the crowd at the Bay Oval today. Photo/George Novak
12.32 Kane Williamson is out for a fine innings of 61 off 72 deliveries faced. He was dismissed caught by the keeper sweeping off spinner Dilshan to end a wonderful partnership of 122 with Martin Guptill.
Guptill is 62 not out off 65 balls with the score 128/2 off 24 overs. Ross Taylor is the new batsman.
12:17 Drinks Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill continue to bat the Black Caps into a strong position. At the first drinks break, they have taken the score to 86/1 after 17 overs with Williamson 37 not out and Gutill 46 not out.
The Bay Oval wicket is playing well with both batsman enjoying the conditions. The outfield is like a bowling green and has helped the Sri Lankan fielders make some fine saves.
11:38 Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill are building a strong partnership with the total up to 31/1 off 8 overs. Williamson has hit four boundaries in his 20 with Guptill 16 not out. Bay Oval is looking magnificent with much of the grass banking full up with enthusiastic fans.
11:12 First blood to Sri Lanka with opener Tom Latham out for 0 in the opening over. Tauranga's Kane Williamson walked to the crease to a rousing reception from the big crowd.
Earlier: The grass banks at Bay Oval were already well populated 30 minutes before play this morning as the two captains went out to the centre for the coin toss.
Ground officials are confident of a full house at Bay Oval with queues forming outside the gates at Blake Park.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews called correctly and decided to bowl first, as they hope to continue their recent success chasing.
Black Caps captain and local boy Kane Williamson was happy to bat first and announced his fellow Tauranga mate Trent Boult will play instead of Mitch McClenaghan.
The pitch surface was so hard the SKY Television technicians had trouble putting the stumps into the ground, which hopefully bodes well for a bouncy quicker pitch than was the case in Nelson.
The crowd at today's cricket game at Bay Oval. Photo/George Novak
