Toss New Zealand opt to bat vs Sri Lanka
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first in the final ODI in Pallekele. Sri Lanka have already secured the series win having won the first two games.
Both sides have made changes, with Sri Lanka in particular seeking to test their bench strength. For the visitors, there’s a debut for seamer Zakary Foulkes, who had impressed in the T20 leg, while fellow seamer Adam Milne also gets a first game on tour. They come in for Nathan Smith and Jacob Duffy.
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have made no less than five changes, with Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage and Asitha Fernando all making way. In come batters Nishan Madushka and Nuwanidu Fernando, seamers Dilshan Madushanka and Mohamed Shiraz, while there will also be a debut for seam-bowling allrounder Chamindu Wickramasinghe. Seamer Eshan Malinga, who has been impressing with the A team, was also a new inclusion in the squad, alongside batter Lahiru Udara, but neither make the playing XI.
The weather forecast in Pallekele isn’t great, with rain expected at some point, however, to start conditions are hot and humid. The pitch is a new one and as such has more grass on it than in the first two ODIs. This means it will be better for the batter, something Santner alluded to at the toss as his reason for batting first. There will however likely be dew to contend with later in the evening.
Sri Lanka: 1 Nishan Madushka, 2 Avishka Fernando, 3 Nuwanidu Fernando, 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 5 Charith Asalanka (capt.), 6 Janith Liyanage, 7 Chamindu Wickramasinghe 8 Maheesh Theekshana, 9 Jeffrey Vandersay, 10 Dilshan Madushanka 11 Mohamed Shiraz
New Zealand: 1 Tim Robinson, 2 Will Young, 3 Henry Nicholls, 4 Mark Chapman, 5 Glenn Phillips, 6 Mitchell Hay (wk), 7 Michael Bracewell, 8 Mitchell Santner (capt.), 9 Zakary Foulkes, 10 Ish Sodhi, 11 Adam Milne
