SRI LANKA yesterday claimed their first win of their tour of New Zealand to level the seven-match one-day international series at 1-1.

Tillakaratne Dilshan’s century set up a six-wicket win with 14 balls to spare as captain Angelo Mathews added the finishing touches.
Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum had also reached three figures in his side’s total of 248 but, having won both Tests and the opening ODI, a repeat always looked unlikely once Dilshan got into his stride.
McCullum got off the mark with a leg-side four and dominated partnerships of 35 with opening partner Martin Guptill (10), 38 with Tom Latham (five) and 85 with Ross Taylor, who provided the main support with 34.
The captain hit two more of his 12 fours to move to 50 from 39 balls and 100 from 88, and also crashed five sixes in his eventual 117 from 99 deliveries, but a lack of top-order support saw the hosts slip to 185 for seven and a tail-end wag was needed to build a competitive score.
Nathan McCullum made 13 before being brilliantly run-out by Mahela Jayawardene, Adam Milne added 19 and Matt Henry (20 not out) and Trent Boult (13) took 26 from the last three overs. Number 11 Boult hit two sixes in the six balls he faced.
In reply, Dilshan shared an opening stand of 64 with Dimuth Karunaratne (21) and added 52 with Kumar Sangakkara, who made 38 before he was well caught by Latham at deep square leg off Henry (two for 34).
The Sri Lanka opener could afford to be slightly more patient than McCullum, reaching 50 from 58 deliveries and 100 from 116, though he produced some flashing pulls and cover drives among his 17 fours.
Jayawardene made 27 and there were only 12 needed when Dilshan finally submitted, late on Henry’s leg-side bouncer and offering a simple catch to keeper Luke Ronchi off his glove or the shoulder of his bat.
But Mathews finished unbeaten on 39 and hooked the winning boundary off Henry with the scores level.