# Sri Lankan cricket team in New Zealand in 2015–16

The Sri Lanka cricket team toured New Zealand in December 2015 and January 2016 to play two Test matches, five One Day Internationals (ODIs) and two Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).
New Zealand won the Test series 2–0, the ODI series 3–1 and the T20I series 2–0. With the T20I defeat, Sri Lanka lost their number one spot in the T20I rankings after 16 months.

## Squads

| Tests | Tests | ODIs | ODIs | T20Is | T20Is |
| New Zealand | Sri Lanka | New Zealand | Sri Lanka | New Zealand | Sri Lanka |
| Brendon McCullum (c) Ross Taylor (vc) Trent Boult Doug Bracewell Mark Craig Martin Guptill Tom Latham Tim Southee BJ Watling (wk) Kane Williamson Mitchell Santner Neil Wagner | Angelo Mathews (c) Dushmantha Chameera Dinesh Chandimal (wk) Rangana Herath Udara Jayasundera Dimuth Karunaratne Suranga Lakmal Kusal Mendis (wk) Dilruwan Perera Kusal Perera Nuwan Pradeep Dhammika Prasad Milinda Siriwardana Jeffrey Vandersay Kithuruwan Vithanage Vishwa Fernando Kaushal Silva (wk) | Brendon McCullum (c) Trent Boult Doug Bracewell Martin Guptill Tom Latham Matt Henry Mitchell McClenaghan Adam Milne Henry Nicholls Luke Ronchi (wk) Mitchell Santner Ish Sodhi Tim Southee Ross Taylor Kane Williamson George Worker | Angelo Mathews (c) Dushmantha Chameera Dinesh Chandimal (wk) Tillakaratne Dilshan Danushka Gunathilaka Chamara Kapugedera Suranga Lakmal Lasith Malinga Ajantha Mendis Kusal Perera Thisara Perera Nuwan Pradeep Dhammika Prasad Sachithra Senanayake Milinda Siriwardana Lahiru Thirimanne Jeffrey Vandersay Nuwan Kulasekara | Kane Williamson (c) Corey Anderson Trent Boult Grant Elliott Martin Guptill Matt Henry Mitchell McClenaghan Adam Milne Colin Munro Luke Ronchi (wk) Mitchell Santner Ish Sodhi Tim Southee Ross Taylor | Lasith Malinga (c) Dinesh Chandimal (c) (wk) Dushmantha Chameera Tillakaratne Dilshan Shehan Jayasuriya Chamara Kapugedera Nuwan Kulasekara Angelo Mathews Kusal Perera (wk) Thisara Perera Sachithra Senanayake Milinda Siriwardana Isuru Udana Jeffrey Vandersay Kithuruwan Vithanage Danushka Gunathilaka Suranga Lakmal |
Vishwa Fernando was added to Sri Lanka's Test squad as a replacement for Dhammika Prasad after Prasad sustained a back injury in a tour match. Nuwan Kulasekara was named as Prasad's replacement in the ODI squad. Kaushal Silva was added to Sri Lanka's Test squad for Kusal Perera after Kusal tested positive for a banned substance due to suspect in doping violation by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Lasith Malinga was originally named as the T20I captain for Sri Lanka, but suffered a knee injury and was replaced by Dinesh Chandimal. Danushka Gunathilaka and Suranga Lakmal were also added to Sri Lanka's T20I squad. Trent Boult returned for the final ODI in place of Matt Henry while George Worker was dropped. Tim Southee was ruled out of the T20I series because of a foot injury and was replaced by Matt Henry.

## Tour match
### Three Day: New Zealand Cricket Board President's XI vs Sri Lankans

* 3–5 December Scorecard
* Match drawn Queenstown Events Centre, Queenstown Umpires: Phil Jones (NZ) and Derek Walker (NZ)
* New Zealand Board President's XI won the toss and elected to field.

## Test series
### 1st Test

* 10–14 December Scorecard
* New Zealand won by 122 runs University Oval, Dunedin Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (Eng) and Nigel Llong (Eng) Player of the match: Martin Guptill (NZ)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
* Rain stopped play at 17:05 on Day 4 and no play was possible for the rest of the day.
* Udara Jayasundera (SL) made his Test debut.
* New Zealand wicket-keeper BJ Watling took his 100th Test dismissal when Kusal Mendis was caught by him in the 1st innings.

### 2nd Test

* 18–22 December Scorecard
* New Zealand won by 5 wickets Seddon Park, Hamilton Umpires: Nigel Llong (Eng) and Paul Reiffel (Aus) Player of the match: Kane Williamson (NZ)
* New Zealand won the toss and elected to field.
* Rain stopped play at 16:29 on Day 1 and no play was possible for the rest of the day.
* Brendon McCullum (NZ) played in his 99th consecutive Test since his debut, beating the previous record of 98 set by AB de Villiers (SA).
* This was the 13th consecutive home Test for New Zealand without defeat, equalling their previous longest undefeated streak at home (March 1987 to March 1991).
* Kane Williamson broke the record for the most Test runs in a calendar year by a New Zealand player (1172 runs).

## ODI series
### 1st ODI

* 26 December 11:00 Scorecard
| Sri Lanka 188 (47 overs) | v | New Zealand 191/3 (21 overs) |
| Milinda Siriwardana 66 (82) Matt Henry 4/49 (10 overs) | | Martin Guptill 79 (56) Milinda Siriwardana 2/45 (5 overs) |
* New Zealand won by 7 wickets Hagley Oval, Christchurch Umpires: Michael Gough (Eng) and Phil Jones (NZ) Player of the match: Matt Henry (NZ)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.
* Henry Nicholls (NZ) made his ODI debut.

### 2nd ODI

* 28 December 11:00 Scorecard
| Sri Lanka 117 (27.4 overs) | v | New Zealand 118/0 (8.2 overs) |
| Nuwan Kulasekara 19 (24) Matt Henry 4/33 (9.4 overs) | | Martin Guptill 93* (30) |
* New Zealand won by 10 wickets Hagley Oval, Christchurch Umpires: Richard Illingworth (Eng) and Derek Walker (NZ) Player of the match: Martin Guptill (NZ)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.
* Jeffrey Vandersay (SL) made his ODI debut.
* Martin Guptill's fifty off 17 balls is the fastest ODI fifty by a New Zealand cricketer and equal second fastest of all time (with Sanath Jayasuriya and Kusal Perera).
* New Zealand had the second highest run rate (14.16) in ODI history.
* New Zealand's winning margin by balls remaining (250) was the third highest for a 10-wicket win in ODIs.

### 3rd ODI

* 31 December 11:00 Scorecard
| New Zealand 276/8 (50 overs) | v | Sri Lanka 277/2 (46.2 overs) |
| Kane Williamson 59 (73) Dushmantha Chameera 2/38 (10 overs) | | Tillakaratne Dilshan 91 (92) Mitchell McClenaghan 1/39 (9 overs) |
* Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets Saxton Oval, Nelson Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) and Michael Gough (Eng) Player of the match: Danushka Gunathilaka (SL)
* New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat.
* Tillakaratne Dilshan broke the record for the most ODI runs in a calendar year by a Sri Lankan opener (1207 runs).

### 4th ODI

* 2 January 11:00 Scorecard
| New Zealand 75/3 (9 overs) | v | Sri Lanka |
| Martin Guptil 27 (14) Nuwan Kulasekara 1/4 (1 over) | | |
* No result Saxton Oval, Nelson Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) and Richard Illingworth (Eng)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
* The start of the match was delayed by rain and the game reduced to 24 overs per side. Rain stopped play at 16:23 and no play was possible for the rest of the game.

### 5th ODI

* 5 January 11:00 Scorecard
| New Zealand 294/5 (50 overs) | v | Sri Lanka 258 (47.1 overs) |
| Martin Guptill 102 (109) Nuwan Kulasekara 3/53 (10 overs) | | Angelo Mathews 95 (116) Matt Henry 5/40 (10 overs) |
* New Zealand won by 36 runs Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) and Michael Gough (Eng) Player of the match: Matt Henry (NZ)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
* Matt Henry took his 2nd ODI five-wicket haul.
* Tillakaratne Dilshan played his 300th ODI innings. He is the 4th Sri Lankan and 12th overall to play more than 300 innings.
* Angelo Mathews became the 10th Sri Lankan to score 4000 runs in ODIs.

## T20I series
### 1st T20I

* 7 January 15:00 Scorecard
| New Zealand 182/4 (20 overs) | v | Sri Lanka 179/9 (20 overs) |
| Martin Guptill 58 (34) Nuwan Kulasekara 2/26 (4 overs) | | Danushka Gunathilaka 46 (29) Trent Boult 3/21 (4 overs) |
* New Zealand won by 3 runs Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui Umpires: Phil Jones (NZ) and Derek Walker (NZ) Player of the match: Trent Boult (NZ)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
* Danushka Gunathilaka (SL) made his T20I debut.

### 2nd T20I

* 10 January 15:00 Scorecard
| Sri Lanka 142/8 (20 overs) | v | New Zealand 147/1 (10 overs) |
| Angelo Mathews 81* (49) Grant Elliott 4/22 (4 overs) | | Martin Guptill 63 (25) Thisara Perera 1/26 (2 overs) |
* New Zealand won by 9 wickets Eden Park, Auckland Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) and Phil Jones (NZ) Player of the match: Colin Munro (NZ)
* New Zealand won the toss and elected to field.
* Martin Guptill became the second New Zealander and fourth overall to reach 1,500 Twenty20 International runs.
* Colin Munro scored the second fastest fifty of all time and the fastest by a New Zealander (14 balls).
* Sri Lanka lost their number one spot in Twenty20 International team rankings after 16 months.