Cricket: Poor end to Black Caps' American experiment

Scoreboard

New Zealand could not recover from a horror start as they lost the second Twenty20 cricket international to Sri Lanka by seven wickets in Florida today.

Once skipper Daniel Vettori won the toss and opted the bat at Lauderhill everything quickly turned to custard for the New Zealanders, who had won the opening game of the two-match series by 28 runs yesterday.

Fast bowler Nuwan Kalusekara ran through the top order as the New Zealanders slumped to 13 for five before Vettori and Nathan McCullum papered over the cracks to enable them to post 81.

The Sri Lankans reached their target with ease, Tillakaratne Dilshan leading the way to topscore with 33 not out off 49 balls while Thissara Perera lent support with 24 off 17 as the winning runs came in the 16th over.

New Zealand's cause looked hopeless as early as the second over when Kalusekara claimed three wickets on a low, slow and inconsistent pitch.

Aaron Redmond was trapped leg before wicket off the first ball of the second over, Brendon McCullum was bowled off the fifth and Rob Nicol was dismissed for a golden duck off the last.

Angelo Mathews then trapped Ross Taylor leg before wicket in the next over and after 15 balls New Zealand were eight for four before staggering to 13 for five after 4.5 overs when Gareth Hopkins was run out.

With the innings in tatters, Nathan McCullum responded with a fighting 36 not out and put on a stand of 45 for the sixth wicket with Vettori, who made 27.

They were the only New Zealand batsmen to reach double figures as the Sri Lankans thrived, with Kalusekara ending with figures of three for four off four overs before fast bowler Lasith Malinga mopped up the tail to take three for 12 and spinner Ajantha Mendis chipped in with two for 19.

Vettori paid tribute to the Sri Lankans bowlers.

"Kalusekara got wickets with very good balls. He put the ball in the right areas," Vettori said.

"As a batting unit sometimes you have to accept that a bowling team is on top.

"From 13 for five it was always going to be difficult to come back and post a competitive total.

"We'd both had one game in these conditions and Sri Lanka played exceptionally well. They bowled straight and just got enough movement to cause us trouble."

Both Vettori and his Sri Lankan opposite Kumar Sangakkara voiced support for the concept of playing international cricket in the United States.

The two-match series was the first in that country featuring two full International Cricket Council member nations, and New Zealand Cricket has signalled its intention to participate in future series there.

While the questionable nature of the pitch did not allow for the batsmen to dominate, that can be addressed with more work to be done at the venue near Miami.

- NZPA