SL vs NZ 3rd ODI 2026 Hagley Oval Mitchell Santner Spell

Mitchell Santner's 5 for 39 at Hagley Oval was the spell that ended the SL vs NZ 2026 ODI series with a 2-1 result for New Zealand. The Sri Lankan chase of 271 looked viable through the 25th over — they were 110 for 2 with both Asalanka and Mendis set — before Santner's middle-overs spell took both batters and the lower middle order. Here is the recap with the spell breakdown.

Match summary

Team	Score	Overs	Run rate	Top scorer
New Zealand	270/8	50	5.40	Daryl Mitchell 91
Sri Lanka	218 all out	44.3	4.89	Charith Asalanka 56
Result	NZ won by 52	—	—	—

The Santner spell

Santner bowled his 10 overs in two phases — a 5-over middle-section probe (overs 22 to 26) followed by the back-half closeout (overs 38 to 42 and the death). Across those 60 deliveries, he produced 5 wickets for just 39 runs and conceded only one boundary.

Phase	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Avg pitching
Middle	5	18	2	4.2 m
Back-half	5	21	3	3.8 m
Spell total	10	39	5	4.0 m

Wicket 1: Asalanka

The first wicket came in over 24. Asalanka was on 56 and looking to push the strike rate. Santner drifted a left-arm spinner's arm-ball into the right-hander, and Asalanka aimed a slog-sweep. The ball held its line and took the leading edge to long-off, where Glenn Phillips took a comfortable catch.

Wicket 2: Mendis

Two overs later, Kusal Mendis went for one. A fuller delivery on a length that turned just enough to take the outside edge through to Tom Blundell behind the stumps. Mendis had been on 38 and looked the more likely to take the chase deep. The dismissal turned the chase from probable to nervous.

Wickets 3, 4, 5: the back-half procession

The back-half spell took out Wanindu Hasaranga (lbw, slider), Dasun Shanaka (caught at deep midwicket off a flighted delivery), and Maheesh Theekshana (bowled, arm-ball through the gate). Three wickets in 17 deliveries with the chase needing 75 from 60. Sri Lanka collapsed from 152 for 4 to 218 all out.

The Mitchell innings

Daryl Mitchell's 91 from 96 deliveries was the New Zealand innings of note. He walked in at 47 for 2 and rebuilt with Williamson before pushing the strike rate up in the middle overs. The dismissal in the 47th over — caught at long-on off Hasaranga — came with the score at 256 and 9 runs short of a hundred. The Phillips cameo of 31 from 18 deliveries closed the innings out at 270.

What sealed the series

Three things. First, Santner's middle-overs spell on a slowish Hagley surface. Second, Sri Lanka's top three falling cheaply — Karunaratne (12), Nissanka (18), Mendis (38) — which left the chase resting on Asalanka alone. Third, the New Zealand seamers' new-ball discipline: Tim Southee's 2 for 28 in 10 overs included two power-play wickets that set the chase rate up wrong from the start.

What this means for both squads

New Zealand take the series 2-1 and confirm Santner as the senior ODI spinner of this rebuild cycle. Sri Lanka finish the tour with a defendable result line but the same problem they had in the Tests — a top order that loses early wickets and forces the middle order to chase the rate. For the wider series context, the 1st ODI recap and 2nd ODI recap cover the earlier games.

Player of the series

Daryl Mitchell's aggregate of 230 across the three ODIs was the highest, with two scores of 70-plus and a strike rate above 95. Santner's wicket aggregate of 9 across the series was the leading bowling card. Either was a defendable choice for player of the series; the selectors went with Mitchell.

Forward look

The T20I leg of the tour follows immediately. New Zealand will likely rest Tim Southee and Matt Henry for parts of the white-ball series, while Sri Lanka have one more chance to put a marker down ahead of their busy 2026-27 home season. The 2-1 result is a fair reflection of the gap between these two squads on Kiwi soil.