Ryder and McCullum set up clean sweep

The BLACKCAPS have completed a clean sweep of the Twenty20 Internationals against Sri Lanka with a convincing 22-run win at Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

From the minute Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat it was one-way traffic with the BLACKCAPS putting in an all round team performance to take out the series 2-0.

Openers Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder got the team off to a flyer, blasting 84 for the first wicket including one 19-run over off Lasith Malinga.

Sri Lankan Captain Kumar Sangakkarra had no answers to the onslaught, using six bowlers in the first ten overs until Sanath Jayasuriya eventually got the breakthrough, catching McCullum off his own bowling for 49.

McCullum struck four boundaries and two sixes, displaying tremendous hand speed, nimble footwork and lightning fast speed between the stumps.

Ryder was the supporting partner in the opening stand but freed his arms once McCullum was dismissed, lashing 52 off 37 with three fours and three sixes before holing out to extra cover.

With a solid platform set, the rest of the batting line up continued on in a positive fashion with Ross Taylor reaching 16, Martin Guptill 32 and Jacob Oram 17 not out - the side compiling a total of 170.

Strike bowler Shane Bond got the BLACKCAPS off to the ideal start - taking the wicket of Tillarkartne Dilshan in the first over for just one.

Kyle Mills picked up Mahela Udawatte with the first ball of the following over for a duck, and then dismissed danger man Jayasuriya for seven to have the home team reeling at three for 11.

The experienced Mahela Jayawardene lead a fight back, sharing a 67-run partnership with Sangakkara, but just as they started to look dangerous Jayawardene was caught off the bowling of Nathan McCullum for 41.

Three balls later McCullum had his second victim with Angelo Mathews caught in the covers for one leaving the home team 80 for five with less than ten overs to play.

Sangakkara kept Sri Lankan hopes alive with a gritty half century but couldn’t get a partner to stick around as Bond removed Gilhan Rupasinghe for 18.

Needing 28 from seven Sangakkara needed to find the rope but only succeeded in finding Jacob Oram who took the catch off his own bowling as all hopes of a victory were lost.

Bond picked up Nuwan Kulasekara in the final over to finish with figures of three for 18.

Ryder picked up both the man of the match and man of the series award for his efforts with the bat and in the field.

BLACKCAPS captain Daniel Vettori said the win was very satsfying - and paid tribute to the opening pair.

"It started from the partnership of McCullum and Ryder - it's so important in this format of the game that your openers or top three get you off to a great start, and I couldn't really ask for too much more from those two."

The BLACKCAPS next match is a warm up game against Sri Lanka A on 6 September.

ENDS

Scorecard available at:
http://scoring.blackcaps.co.nz/livescoring/match610/scorecard.aspx