Blackcaps vs Sri Lanka: NZ demolish Sri Lanka in third ODI

The Blackcaps have completed a series sweep of Sri Lanka, with an emphatic 115-run win in the third one-day international at Saxton Oval.

Lockie Ferguson (4/40 from eight overs) and Ish Sodhi (3/40 from eight overs) did the damage with the ball to capitalise on another blazing NZ batting performance, dimissing the tourists for just 249 in the 42nd over.

Spearheaded by centuries to man of the match Ross Taylor and Henry Nicholls, the Blackcaps' bats were almost as hot as the searing Nelson sun.

Taylor's 137 off 131 balls made him the first New Zealand batsman to register 20 centuries in any one format of the game, while also equalling the NZ record for most consecutive ODI half-centuries (six).

"I was hitting the ball alright and it's nice to get three figures," he said afterwards.

"I'm just playing to the situation and the conditions. You have to give yourself a bit of time and you can catch up later.

"It doesn't always come off, but it's nice when it does. It's nice to get to 20 [centuries], I would have taken that at the start of my career."

After skipper Kane Williamson's tidily compiled 55, Nicholls joined forces with Taylor in a 154-run partnership, as he continued his rich vein of form.

He blasted his way to an unbeaten 124 off just 80 balls, which included 12 fours and three sixes.

Ferguson was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers, bouncing back from two expensive opening overs to take four wickets for only 20 runs through his final six.

He also claimed the scalp of dangerman Thisara Perera, courtesy of a stunning one-handed grab from Martin Guptill. Perera had threatened to repeat his heroics from the second ODI, until he fell for 80 from 63 balls, taking with him any hopes of a Sri Lanka comeback.

Spinner Ish Sodhi varied his attack effectively, ripping through the Sri Lankan lower order.

New Zealand will now look to complete series sweeps against the toursists across all three formats, when they meet Sri Lanka in the lone Twenty20 at Auckland's Eden Park on Friday.

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