Stumping ends the match but a slight pause in the handshakes there. Wonder if the umpires indicated to Kane Williamson that they might be checking something. But then they resume the handshakes in a couple of seconds. Comprehensive win for New Zealand, first time they are bowling out teams in consecutive matches in the T20 World Cup. 

Wicket No.4 for Boult. Short delivery that Shanaka tries to pull, can’t get hold of it properly and it is caught at the square leg boundary. 

Shanaka c Mitchell b Boult 35 (32), Sri Lanka 93/9 in 17 overs

Captain Dasun Shanaka farming strike now, as is expected. Sri Lanka need 86 to win from the last five overs. May not be impossible yet, but pretty improbable.

Shanaka dabs Ferguson to third man where Sodhi lets the ball pass through his hands and it rolls away to the boundary. 

Theekshana edges Santner to slips off the very next ball. Sri Lanka down to their last two wickets now. New Zealand are going to end up with a frankly absurd net run rate if they can wrap up this match in the next couple of overs. 

Theekshana c Neesham b Santner 0 (3), New Zealand 65/8 in 12.3 overs

Wasn’t an easy catch but you wouldn’t expect a Kiwi to drop that. Shanaka goes high up into the night sky off the second ball of the over, bowler Santner and Conway  look at each other for a second before the former goes for it and that may have been the difference. Never settled underneath it and misjudged  where the ball was falling and at last, New Zealand drop a catch. 

Hasaranga hits it to Kane Williamson at mid-on who takes a sharp catch diving forward. New Zealand are not giving any lifelines to Sri Lanka, unlike what the latter were kind enough to do earlier in the day. 

Hasaranga c Williamson b Sodhi 4 (6), Sri Lanka 64/7 in 11.4 overs  

The fightback ends and this might just be the game. Toe ends this lofted shot and holes out at mid-on. Sri Lanka down to their last four wickets now, Hasaranga walks into the middle. 

Rajapaksa c Williamson b Ferguson 34 (22), Sri Lanka 58/6 in 10 overs

Well technically this would be his first real biggie, considering the first six was the flattest of them all. Sodhi drags down the length and Rajapaksa muscles it over deep midwicket.  

Just one man out in the deep and Chamika Karunaratne finds him with aplomb. Karunaratne backs away early to open up the off side, Santner goes short and the batter readjusts for a pull shot, that goes straight down the throat of deep midwicket.  

Karunaratne c Boult b Santner 3 (8), 24/5 in 6.1 overs

Rajapaksa and Karunaratne have to be Sri Lanka’s Mitchell and Phillips here. Well, probably much more than that. Mitchell Santner now comes in. 

Lockie Ferguson brought in for the fifth and Rajapaksa cuts his third delivery away. That ends up going all the way over the boundary for one of the flattest sixes you will ever see. How Sri Lanka needed that. 

Look away Sri Lanka fans, this is not a pretty sight. Asalanka drives uppish and picks up backward point. Sri Lanka have lost four wickets without reaching double figures. 

Asalanka c Allen b Boult 4 (8), Sri Lanka 8/4 in 3.3 overs

Sri Lanka taking it step by step. For now, they would be looking to get into double figures without losing another wicket. They would’ve, had Neesham managed a direct hit from midwicket at the striker’s end, Rajapaksa had given up completely. 

Well if New Zealand were off to a horror start in their innings, what do you call this? Dhananjaya given no room, he tries to cut it anyhow and ends up chopping on to his own stumps. 

Dhananjaya de Silva b Boult 0 (3), Sri Lanka 5/3 in 2 overs

Holds his line, Mendis gets a feather edge to Conway behind the stumps. If Southee doesn’t get you, Boult will.  

Mendis c Conway b Boult 4 (3), Sri Lanka 4/2 in 1.3 overs

Bit of a loosener from Boult first up, gives Mendis enough room and the in-form SL opener cuts away for a four. 

Southee bang on the money. After dropping Phillips twice, Nissanka is now gone for a duck and he can go for a nice cold shower to wash this disaster off his memory. Length ball that angles in, Nissanka goes for a big swing and misses the ball completely. He has a chat with his partner Kusal Mendis before deciding against the DRS and walking off. 

Pathum Nisanka facing up, Kusal Mendis at the other end. Tim Southee starts the Kiwi attack. Sri Lanka have a nice little mountain to climb here. 

He shared an 84-run stand with Phillips which turned the tables completely on the Sri Lankans. “Team is really happy with that, special night for GP, got to take my hat off for that. It was a challenging start for us, we were trying to build a partnership after getting to the 10 over mark and then build from there on a tricky surface. The surface is a bit variable (in terms of bounce) out there, which is good to see. Think we should be able to defend this.”

Mitchell Santner with a few lusty blows towards the end of that innings, he ends with a four and is unbeaten on 11 off five balls. What a turnaround by New Zealand, led largely by Glenn Phillips with assistance from Daryl Mitchell and Sri Lanka’s blunders.  

Mishit at last from Phillips and Sri Lanka finally hold on to a catch off him. He walks off to applause from everyone at the stadium, Dhananjaya de Silva goes up and shakes his hands as well. What an innings this has been and it may have won the match for New Zealand. 

Phillips c Shanaka b Kumara 104 (64), New Zealand 162/6 in 19.4 overs

He is the second New Zealander after Brendon McCullum to score a century in the T20 World Cup. Short from Theekshana and he pulls hard before letting out a roar that reverberates throughout the SCG. He has got there in 61 balls. 

Wow, Phillips makes all the room in the world for himself against Theekshana and hits the first ball of the 19th straight down the ground for four. 

After that no-ball came another from Fernando. If that powerplay was an utter disaster for New Zealand, the same can be said for Sri Lanka in everything they did after that. Phillips is on 93 off 58 and is on strike at the start of the 19th. 

Phillips is off balanace but still manages to squirt it to the square leg boundary. And on top of that, it is a free hit.

Well, well, Rajitha Fernando was off the field for a while but he has come back and taken a wicket straightaway. 

Neesham c Shanaka b Rajitha 5 (8), NZ 129/5 in 17.1 overs

Superman Phillips! He has sent Theekshana downtown twice off consecutive balls. This is a sensational innings. 

Phillips cleared the straight boundary for his second six of the innings in that 16th over. Considering how this pitch has acted out and the attack that New Zealand possess, this is turning out to be a brilliant score now for them. 

Googly from Hasaranga and that does it for Mitchell. The partnership ends at 84 off 64 balls.  

Mitchell b Hasaranga 22 (24), Sri Lanka 99/4 in 14.3 overs

What an innings this is. He slog sweeps Chamika to the cow corner boundary and gets to the mark in 39 balls. This partnership has pretty much undone all the good work Sri Lanka did early on. 

Phillips gets another lifeline. What are Sri Lanka doing? This one was more difficult than the last one but should have been caught regardless. Attempted cover drive off Chamika that gets a top edge, Shanaka did well to make ground from long off, puts in a dive but can’t make it stick. 

Sri Lanka are still arguably on top but they need a wicket here lest Mitchell and Phillips run away with this. Phillips is on 30 off 27 balls, Mitchell on 11 off 14. 

Chamika Karunaratne angles in a short ball, Phillips uses the pace to pick it up over cover. That is the first six of this innings for New Zealand. 

New Zealand getting some momentum going and Sri Lanka are not helping their cause one bit. Kumara bowled a no ball and a wide in his over and that alongwith that dropped catch earlier has allowed the batters to settle in. 

The fiery Lahiru Kumara has been brought in, Phillips pulls him second ball fine to the boundary ropes. New Zealand 34/3 in 7.1 overs.

There is absolutely no excuse for that. Phillips decides to go aerial over covers, it is going straight into the hands of Pathum Nisanka at long on. It does go straight in, and then out, Nisanka tries to get it back, fumbles a couple of times before dropping it. One run for New Zealand, how costly is this going to be for Sri Lanka?

Well, that was a disaster for the Blackcaps. They are 25/3 in 6 overs. The run rate is below 4.5. The fact remains, however, that they have two very dangerous batters in the middle in Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips. Sri Lanka would need to keep picking those wickets. 

Phillips works it through the gap behind point, second boundary for him and just third boundary for New Zealand. They are 24/3 in 5.2 overs. 

That’s it for the New Zealand captain. He drives to Rajitha, ends up nicking behind to the wicketkeeper.

Williamson c Mendis b Rajitha 8 (13), New Zealand 15/3 in 4 overs

New Zealand can’t handle the spin! Conway looking to make room to go inside out, deceived by the flight and loses his stumps. Early trouble for the Kiwis, they have lost both their openers in the first three overs. 

Conway b Dhananjaya 1 (4), New Zealand 7/2 in 2.2 overs

Conway and Williamson in the middle now. Sri Lanka clearly looking to spin New Zealand in this powerplay, Dhananjaya De Silva comes in for the third. 

Finn Allen makes room for the cut but the ball skids back into him and he is completely deceived. His stumps are rattled and he has to walk. 

Allen b Theekshana 1 (3), NZ 2/1 in 0.4 overs

Right, here are Devon Conway and Finn Allen, Maheesh Theekshana is bowling the first over for Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka start with spin. 

The players have walked out to the field and are standing adjacent to each other in a file with their flags stretched out behind them. The Sri Lankan national anthem first, and then New Zealand. 

This might be one of the last time we see this pair in a major tournament for New Zealand and so fans would be savouring every over they bowl in tandem. 

Daley Steyn had said in his pitch report that it looks “very similar to the previous two wickets we played with, where South Africa and New Zealand got over 200 and India got 179. NZ have the best bowlers inside the first six overs, so they’ll want to put Sri Lanka under pressure, but if I was the captain and won the toss, I’d bat first.” High scores coming up it seems. 

We would have batted first as well, but we have chased well and not too disappointed at all. The batting unit will have to get runs and we do have the bowlers. One change for us – Binura Fernando is replaced by Kasun Rajitha

Looks like a good surface, we played here once before and so we just want to get runs on the board and try and defend it. For a tournament that’s pretty condensed it feels like we haven’t played for a while. So it’s nice to just get out here and focus on the playing side of the contest. Just the one change as Daryll Mitchell comes in for Mark Chapman.”

Finn Allen, Devon Conway(w), Kane Williamson(c), Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult

Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis(w), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha

New Zealand win toss, choose to bat. Kane Williamson has said that Daryl Mitchell returns to the squad. 

Let’s just have a shot the elevens that are going to play today. 

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson (capt), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha

Friday was sodden and depressing in Melbourne. This is Sydney, though, and there absolutely no rains on  the radar.

Both New Zealand and Sri Lanka have won a match each thus far. But while NEw Zealand could not win a second because of their match against Afghanistan being washed out, Sri Lanka lost their second game. The Kiwis thus have a one point lead over their opponents for the day. 

Binura Fernando, who was earlier roped in as an injury replacement by Sri Lanka, has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup. Fernando is out of the World Cup after sustaining a hamstring injury during Sri Lanka’s match against Australia. Asitha Fernando has replaced Fernando in the Sri Lankan squad.

Sri Lanka squad: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis(w), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Lahiru Kumara, Ashen Bandara, Pramod Madushan, Kasun Rajitha, Jeffrey Vandersay. 

New Zealand squad: Finn Allen, Devon Conway(w), Kane Williamson(c), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Daryl Mitchell, Adam Milne, Martin Guptill. 

Welcome to our live coverage of match No.27 (Super 12 Group 1) of the ICC World T20 2022 between New Zealand and Sri Lanka from the famous Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).