And then there was some cricket. No-ball, allegations, inquiries, and suspensions were momentarily put to rest as Sri Lanka were asked to field first, sans Suraj Randiv, who was banned for the no-ball he bowled to deny Virender Sehwag a century in the previous game.
Sri Lanka wouldn't be too worried about having to chase under lights because in their previous two games they sort of inverted the Dambulla order of batting first and winning. They won their first match by chasing, and lost their second after they won the toss and batted. Apart from Rangana Herath replacing Randiv, Sri Lanka brought in an extra spinner in Ajantha Mendis ahead of Dilhara Fernando, and also got the younger Chamara Silva to replace Thilan Samaraweera. They continued showing faith in Chamara Kapugedera.
New Zealand welcomed back Jacob Oram and Grant Elliot, but had to do without Martin Guptill who injured himself in the lead-up to the match. Peter Ingram took his place.
Sri Lanka: 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Chamara Silva, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Lasith Malinga.
New Zealand: 1 Peter Ingram, 2 BJ Watling, 3 Ross Taylor (capt.), 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Grant Elliot, 8 Gareth Hopkins (wk), 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Kyle Mills, 11 Daryl Tuffey
