Boult finished with figures of 3/21 off his four overs

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

New Zealand drew first blood in their two-match Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka as they escaped with a thrilling three-run win in the first match at Mount Maunganui.

Martin Guptill and stand-in captain Kane Williamson starred for New Zealand with the bat as they scored 58 and 53 respectively, while Trent Boult excelled with the ball as he took three wickets.

Sri Lanka stand-in captain Dinesh Chandimal would have been mulling over his decision to bowl first as Guptill and Williamson amassed a 101-run partnership, during which Guptill brought up his half-century, before he was run out by Chamara Kapugedara for 58, which came off 34 balls and included four boundaries and four sixes.

Guptill scored his seventh Twenty20 International fifty

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Williamson went on to make 53 off 42 deliveries, which included five boundaries and a six, before he was dismissed by Nuwan Kulasekara.

Williamson’s brilliant form with the bat continued

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Thanks to a quickfire 36 by Colin Munro and rapid 22 not out from Ross Taylor, the Black Caps finished on 182/4 off their 20 overs.

Kulasekara was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets while Jeffrey Vandersay chipped in with one.

Chasing 183 to win, Sri Lanka got off to a horrible start as they were reduced to 42/4 in the fifth over. However, debutant Danushka Gunathilaka made his presence felt with a 29-ball 46 that included three boundaries and two sixes.

Milinda Siriwardana edged Sri Lanka closer to their target with his brilliant innings of 42, which came off 31 balls and included two boundaries and two sixes.

Heading into the last over, Sri Lanka required 13 runs to win, but their hopes of crossing the finish line were dashed when they lost two wickets in consecutive balls. However, Sri Lanka still had an opportunity to go 1-0 up in the series as they needed nine runs off the last two balls, but it wasn’t to be as they could only manage to score five.

Boult and Matt Henry snapped up three wickets apiece, while Grant Elliott and Ish Sodhi claimed one wicket each.

Boult was named Man of the Match.