New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson breathed fire on his Kiwi comeback since the T20 World Cup in the States and the Caribbean as he registered his second T20 hat-trick and first in international cricket in Dambulla on Sunday, November 10. Chasing a low score, Sri Lanka lost their way in the middle with Ferguson breaking the backbone of Sri Lanka's batting and eventually lost the contest, with Glenn Phillips putting in the finishing touches, taking three wickets in the final over.
Sri Lanka lost opener Kusal Mendis early, however, Pathum Nissanka from the other end ensured that the hosts did get a few boundaries away by utilising the powerplay before Ferguson flexed his muscles. Sri Lanka didn't run away with the run rate as they had scored just 24 runs but since the required rate wasn't steep, they could afford such. Ferguson then forced the errors by dismissing Kusal Perera on the final delivery of the powerplay.
Sri Lanka scored 10 runs in the next over but didn't expect what would hit them with Ferguson returning them in the eighth. Ferguson first dismissed the in-form Kaminu Mendis, trapping him LBW on the first delivery of the over before getting the Sri Lankan skipper caught behind to leave the hosts rattled.
Ferguson, who has a hat-trick in his name for Yorkshire in T20 cricket, became the fifth Kiwi to do it in international cricket in the format after Jacob Oram, Tim Southee (2), Michael Bracewell and Matt Henry. New Zealand have now the joint-most number of hat-tricks in T20Is for a team, alongside Sri Lanka.
After the Ferguson burst, who never returned to the bowling crease again in the game, Sri Lanka received the repair act from Nissanka, who held one end up and Bhanuka Rajapaksa. However, once the 29-run partnership broke, New Zealand's spinners got into the lower order and didn't leave.
Nissanka fought the lone battle and going into the final over, Sri Lanka needed eight runs and with seven wickets in hand, the hosts would have fancied their chances. However, the only thing Phillips needed to do was dismiss Nissanka and once he did that, Sri Lanka capitulated and New Zealand won the game by just five runs and thereby levelled the two-match series 1-1.
Ferguson was named the Player of the Match for his heroics with Hasaranga winning the Player of the Series. The two teams' focus would now shift to the ODIs, with the first one in Dambulla on Wednesday, November 13.
