A long-awaited maiden century for opening batsman Rachel Priest put the icing on the cake for New Zealand's White Ferns as a powerhouse top order set up an 96-run win at Lincoln's Bert Sutcliffe Oval in the first ODI of their maiden bilateral contest with Sri Lanka.
Priest had come into the game with a best of 96 not out, which she had recorded in a win against England last summer. As the hard-hitting Wellingtonian equalled that score, she also posted her 1000th career run in One-Day Internationals.
Shortly afterwards, tapping a single to mid on to bring up her hundred, the 30-year-old veteran of 59 ODIs and 53 T20 Internationals hunched down in a moment of relief, before raising her bat in jubilation.
Priest had plundered her milestone off just 113 balls, including 10 fours - and added two more celebratory boundaries before being stumped on 108 off Chamari Attapattu in the 39th over.
By then, she had soldered two substantial partnerships, launching with 84 for the first wicket with captain Suzie Bates (38), before a match-winning blitz of 131 with an aggressive yet polished Amy Satterthwaite (69 off 72). They had poured on a White Ferns record for the second wicket against Sri Lanka, just six runs short of the record for all partnerships against the side.
