Tharanga century in vain as Black Caps Sri Lanka in high-scoring game

Guptil plays a shot during his brilliant 116 off 76

Martin Guptill smashed Sri Lanka's bowlers to all parts of Edgbaston as the Black Caps won their final Champions Trophy warmup match with ease.

His innings of 116 off 76 won't go into the record books as it was an unofficial match, but his big hitting was still something to behold as New Zealand chased down Sri Lanka's total of 356-8 with six wickets and almost 23 balls to spare on Tuesday night in Birmingham.

Guptill hit 10 fours and five sixes as he combined with captain Kane Williamson (88 off 60 balls) in a second-wicket stand of 157 before he retired in just the 29th over.

Williamson also retired, before Corey Anderson (50 off 36 balls) and Neil Broom (37 off 38) saw their their side home.

Tharanga in action during his century 

Earlier, Upul Tharanga was the star with the bat for Sri Lanka as he scored 110 off 104 balls. 

There were half centuries for Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal as Sri Lanka reached 212-2 in the 32nd over, but the New Zealand bowlers - all nine of them that were used - recovered well to restrict them to a chaseable total.

Trent Boult and Tim Southee both took two wickets each.

New Zealand 359 for 4 (Guptill 116, Williamson 88, Prasanna 2-63) beat Sri Lanka 356 for 8 (Tharanga 110, Boult 2-47) by six wickets

 

Sources: Agencies