That's all from the first ODI of the series folks. New Zealand were clinical across all departments and they deserve to go 1-0 up in the series. Will Sri Lanka manage to bounce back in the next game at Hamilton? Only time will tell. For now, this is Nikhil signing off on behalf of Anurag and Praveen. Ciao!
Mitchell Santner: Credit to the boys upfront. They picked wickets and were patient.
Charith Asalanka: We knew that it was going to be hard as it was too windy. As professionals you need to play any kind of conditions.
Matt Henry, Player of the Match: Change of formats, getting back to ODI format, guys were excited. Great to get the series underway. We were trying to take it from both ends,
17:08 Local Time, 04:08 GMT, 09:38 IST: A comfortable victory for NZ as they win by 9 wickets and go 1-0 up in the 3-match ODI series. Earlier in the day, NZ elected to bowl first on a greenish surface and their bowlers did an excellent job by taking early wickets in the powerplay. The Sri Lankans were put on the back foot pretty early in the match itself, and they couldn't recover from those early blows. The visitors somehow managed to crawl their way to 178, but it was never going to challenge the Blackcaps. In reply, Young and Ravindra got the hosts off to a good start with a 93-run stand for the opening wicket. Ravindra missed out on his fifty, but Young notched up his half-century and kept the run chase under control in the company of Mark Chapman. New Zealand eventually completed the run chase in the 27th over and made it look effortless. Stay around for the presentations..
26.2
Wickramasinghe to Will Young, FOUR, to deep square leg
26.1
Wickramasinghe to Will Young, 2 runs, banged in short by Wickramasinghe as the batsman pulls it to wide mid-on for a couple of runs
Chamindu Wickramasinghe [3.0-0-22-1] is back into the attack
Equation: 5 runs required in 24 overs. Probably the last over of the match coming up..
25.6
Hasaranga to Chapman, no run, googly outside off,
25.5
Hasaranga to Will Young, 1 run, way too full on middle and leg, Will Young squeezes it to mid-wicket for a single
25.4
Hasaranga to Will Young, FOUR, gets down on his knee and sweeps the tossed up delivery past the fielder at short fine leg
25.3
Hasaranga to Will Young, no run, attempts a sweep, gets hit on the pads
25.2
Hasaranga to Will Young, no run, floated on off, Will Young knocks it to cover
25.1
Hasaranga to Will Young, no run,
24.6
Lahiru Kumara to Will Young, 1 run, to deep backward point
24.6
Lahiru Kumara to Will Young, wide, banged in short by Lahiru Kumara as the ball sails over the batsman's head
24.5
Lahiru Kumara to Chapman, 1 run, goes for a pull against this short ball, gets a single through backward square leg
24.4
Lahiru Kumara to Will Young, 1 run, in the air,
24.3
Lahiru Kumara to Will Young, no run, tad fuller on off, knocked to cover by the batsman