Cricket: Fulton finishes series with a flourish

Peter Fulton celebrates making his century at McLean Park yesterday. Picture / Getty Images

NAPIER - Rookie batsman Peter Fulton was yesterday unmasked as New Zealand's next great batting hope, although he is unlikely to remember his maiden one-day century with much excitement.

The tall Canterbury right-hander appeared to be holding all the cards as he carved out his century in Napier, but then had to watch on as his team were trumped by veteran left-arm paceman Chaminda Vaas.

Having snared a five-wicket bag at Wellington, Vaas produced a memorable spell of death bowling to snuff out New Zealand's chase for 274, ending with four for 48 off nine overs.

New Zealand's search for a 5-nil whitewash ended with 10 balls remaining and 21 runs still required, when No 11 Chris Martin was bowled by Dilhara Fernando without scoring.

The win would have come as a huge relief for the Sri Lankans after their 6-1 series loss in India and three consecutive defeats in New Zealand, and particularly as they now travel to Australia for the VB tri-series.

But the biggest consolation for New Zealand was the performance of Fulton over all four matches, starting with a maiden and unbeaten half-century at Queenstown, and continuing through to his 112 at McLean Park yesterday.

The lofty 26-year-old continued to grow as an international batsman, bringing up his 50 off 48 balls and playing shots all around the park, before effectively being run out by Chris Cairns in the 43rd over.

Fulton, whose scores in this series have been 70 not out, 32, 50 and 112, was forced to attempt an unlikely single, hesitated and was caught well short, prompting a dramatic counter-attack from Vaas.

At that stage, New Zealand effectively required a run a ball to carry the day, but were a batsman down after subbing out Jamie How, and lost their last five wickets for 29, in only six overs.

While Sri Lanka enjoyed their match-winning celebrations, New Zealand would have still taken great encouragement from the effort of Fulton, who unfurled some of his most effective shots; straight drives, lofted drives, a couple of cheeky laps, and one towering hook-shot for six.

He emerged from the series with a career average of 68.25, and also made a fine contribution to New Zealand's effort in the field with five catches.

But for Fulton, his memorable batting display was bitter-sweet.

"You're never happy when you lose a game, I'm obviously pleased with how things went, but whether you get 100 or nought, you're still going to be disappointed to lose the game."

While he and Cairns were at the wicket, Fulton still backed themselves for a final flourish.

"At a run a ball for the last 10 overs with wickets in hand, you always think you should win the game. Yeah if I hadn't had gone out who knows."

New Zealand couldn't have made much of a worse start to the chase after their openers perished in side the first two overs; Stephen Fleming after being trapped in front by Vaas, and Lou Vincent to a stand-and-deliver drive off left-armer Richera Perera.

But the early setback was soon forgotten as the reprieved Nathan Astle combined with Fulton in a third wicket partnership worth 108.

Astle has been shunted from pillar to post since being dumped from the squad last month, but the fact that he will emerge from this series with an average of 69.50 suggests he might have the last laugh on coach John Bracewell.

Introduced early in the action, Astle found himself in familiar territory at the top of the innings and proceeded to make the most of the fielding restrictions, before settling down to post 47 off 54 balls.

Sri Lanka owed their second-highest one-day total in New Zealand to a far more stable effort from the top-order, and particularly the No 3, 4 and 5 combination of Kumar Sangakkara, Tillerkaratne Dilshan and skipper Marvan Atapattu.

With Chris Martin and James Franklin unable to either penetrate or restrict, Sri Lanka galloped away at seven an over during the early stanzas and were only temporarily reined-in when Fleming delayed his final powerplay until the 23rd over.

Sangakkara initially had some luck, being dropped off the first ball he faced by a leaping Brendon McCullum, but recovered to strike 58 off 79 balls and add 80 for the third wicket with Dilshan, and another 49 for the fourth with Atapattu.

While Dilshan again looked dangerous while posting his 43, it was Atapattu who then brought a touch of class to the innings, collecting 69 off 68 balls while coaxing his middle-order towards 280.

It was only a magnificent final over from Bond, who skittled Atapattu with his first delivery and conceded just a solitary run off his next five balls, that prevented the tourists getting closer to 290 or 300.

"It was disappointing in the manner that we lost," Fleming said. "One of our strengths has been the middle to lower order which have kept us in games and won us games from nowhere, [but] didn't quite fire today. I thought we did enough through Peter's 100, and enough contributing acts to get across the line ... but Chaminda bowled well and it was just a blip in what's been a pretty good series."

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka

U. Tharanga c Fulton b Martin 11

J. Mubarak c Martin b Bond 26

K. Sangakkara c Fulton b Astle 58

T. Dilshan c McCullum b Martin 43

M. Atapattu b Bond 69

M. Jayawardene c Astle b Martin 30

R. Arnold not out 15

C. Vaas not out 1

Extras (2lb, 13nb, 5w) 20--Total (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 273

Fall: 1/44 (Tharanga), 2/49 (Mubarak), 3/129 (Dilshan), 4/178 (Sangakkara), 5/233 (Jayawardene), 6/272 (Atapattu).

Bowling: J. Franklin 10-0-56-0 (10nb), S. Bond 10-1-53-2 (1nb, 3w), C. Martin 10-0-62-3 (1nb, 1w), D. Vettori 10-0-44-0, C. Cairns 7-0-44-0 (1nb, 1w), N. Astle 3-0-12-1.

New Zealand

L. Vincent c Mubarak b Perera 5

S. Fleming lbw b Vaas 0

N. Astle c Fernando b Bandara 47

P. Fulton run out 112

H. Marshall c & b Perera 35

C. Cairns lbw b Vaas 28

B. McCullum c Atapattu b Perera 2

D. Vettori b Vaas 3

J. Franklin b Vaas 2

S. Bond not out 2

C. Martin b Fernando 0

Extras (10lb, 4nb, 3w) 17--Total (48.2 overs) 253Fall: 1/3 (Fleming), 2/13 (Vincent), 3/121 (Astle), 4/199 (Marshall), 5/224 (Fulton), 6/231 (McCullum), 7/236 (Vettori), 8/249 (Cairns), 9/252 (Franklin), 10/253 (Martin).

Bowling: C. Vaas 9-0-48-4 (2nb), R. Perera 10-0-56-3 (1nb, 2w), D. Fernando 5.2-0-36-1 (1nb), M. Muralitharan 10-1-36-0, T. Dilshan 4-0-20-0, M. Bandara 10-0-47-1 (1w).