Nathan McCullum fires New Zealand to last-ball win

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McCullum (32 not out) came to the crease with the tourists 6-165 and needing 34 from the remaining 19 deliveries, but he smashed 25 off the final six balls from Rangana Herath (0-43 from three overs) to seal the victory.

In a game affected by heavy rain, the teams had 23 overs apiece in the second match of the three-match series, and New Zealand's target of 198 appeared tough.

The hosts batted first and after losing Dimuth Karunaratne for four in the third over they began to build a healthy looking total with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara.

The pair had both passed 50 by the end of the 20th over but a thunderstorm in the 21st over saw play delayed for over five hours and stunted their progress.

When play resumed, the match had been reduced to 23 overs per team, and the Sri Lankan pair pushed their total from 1-117 to 1-138 with Dilshan finishing 55 not out and Sangakkara unbeaten on 71 from 59 balls.

Under the Duckworth-Lewis method, New Zealand's total was set at 198 and they got off to the worst possible start as Anton Devcich (1) and Rob Nicol (0) fell in consecutive deliveries in Nuwan Kulasekara's (4-34 from five) first over.

Grant Elliott (7) and Colin Munro (15) began the fightback but by the 11th over they had both been dismissed by Sachithra Senanayake (2-32 from four) and the visitors were 4-68.

A 93-run partnership between top-scorer Tom Latham (86) and Luke Ronchi (49) brought New Zealand back into the match, however Kulasekara returned to remove both men in the 21st over.

That brought McCullum to the crease, he struck 10 off his first five deliveries, and as they went into the last over they still needed 20 to win.

James Neesham took three off the opening two deliveries, but then McCullum kicked into action.

He hit a six, a four and a six before hitting a four off the final ball of the match to secure the victory and leave him 32 not out off nine balls.

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