Cricket: Taylor rediscovers his touch

Black Caps batsman Ross Taylor hoists another delivery towards the boundary during his innings of...
Black Caps batsman Ross Taylor hoists another delivery towards the boundary during his innings of 96 in yesterday's sixth one-day international between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at the University Oval in Dunedin. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Another piece of the World Cup puzzle snapped into place for the Black Caps yesterday with Ross Taylor rediscovering his touch.

Taylor (96) and Kane Williamson (97) were both denied hundreds, but their third-wicket stand of 117 helped lift the Black Caps to 315 for eight against Sri Lanka in the sixth ODI in Dunedin yesterday.

The tourists made another solid start and Kumar Sangakkara treated a capacity crowd of 4958 to some wonderful batting. His innings of 81 from 66 deliveries underlined what a threat he will be when the World Cup gets under way next month.

But four wickets from Corey Anderson and a frugal spell from Daniel Vettori and Trent Boult helped dismiss Sri Lanka for 195 and seal the 120-run win.

With one match remaining, the Black Caps have wrapped up the seven-game series with an unassailable 4-1 lead.

It is more positive reinforcement for a team at the top of their game and, for Taylor, a timely return to form.

With just one score over 50 in his last eight innings, the right-hander was in need of some time in the middle.''

I hadn't had a decent score for a while so it was nice to to have a decent bat,'' Taylor said.

''I wasn't out of form; I just wasn't scoring any runs.''

It would have been nice to get a 100 with Kane but it just wasn't meant to be.''

Taylor was mindful of his lean run but was not feeling too pressured as the Black Caps were doing so well in the series.

''But at the same time you have your own standards and you want to contribute to a team performance. I wasn't doing that.

''Today was a start but it is a long campaign and hopefully I'm scoring runs at the right time leading into the World Cup.''

Earlier, Sri Lanka was impossibly unlucky not to have had New Zealand two down for 10.

Dhammika Prasad trapped Martin Guptill in front for six. It looked out but umpire Derek Walker did not think so.

Sri Lanka was unable to use the DRS because of a technical glitch with the lbw camera at that end.

Guptill had another life on 18. Wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara intercepted an edge millimetres from the grass tops.

Multiple replays cast some doubt and third umpire Rod Tucker ruled in favour of the batsman. He also ruled out Taylor's catch when Mahela Jayawardene got an edge. Both could have have easily been given but Tucker was consistent.

Guptill's luck finally ran out on 28 when he was caught behind. Hot spot picked up a faint edge.

The innings would have done little to silence his critics.

Williamson needed a reprieve as well. Tillakaratne Dilshan shelved a catch at cover when the prolific New Zealand No 3 was on 27.

It was a poor opening hour by the home side, but Williamson and Taylor wrestled back control.

Williamson eased his way past 50 for the 14th time in one-day cricket. His hundred seem inevitable, but when he turned for a second on 97, Taylor was on another wavelength.

He had jogged through for the first and had his back turned to Williamson, who was busy scampering back.

Williamson got most of the way down before he did a quick about-face. Sangakkara's throw beat him back.

Taylor flicked his bat away in disgust, clearly annoyed about the incident.

He brought up 50 moments later. The celebrations were rather muted. Still, he got back into his stride with a brace boundaries off Prasad. The second was a salvage blow through backward point and was classic Taylor.

A century also eluded Taylor. Having lifted the tempo and lofted a couple of sixes, he missed a full toss from Dilshan and was out lbw.

Anderson had departed earlier with a helpful cameo of 40 from 28.

Vettori had a nice moment before the start of the match. He became the most capped New Zealand one-day player with 280 appearances for his country, overtaking Stephen Fleming, and was presented with a framed photo.

The left-armer made his one-day debut against Sri Lanka in Christchurch in March 1997 and showed yesterday he is still a force, going for fewer than three runs an over.

 

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