Black Caps skipper Brendon McCullum says a flurry of run-outs cost his side dearly as Sri Lanka cruised to a six-wicket win in the second one-day cricket international at Seddon Park in Hamilton.
Chasing 249 after New Zealand's innings was cut short by four middle-order run-outs, man-of-the-match Tillakaratne Dilshan recorded his 19th one-day century, out for 116 as Sri Lanka compiled 252-4 with 14 balls remaining.
The win levels the seven-match series at 1-1, with the third game at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.
McCullum says the result is disappointing after New Zealand's three-wicket win in Christchurch four days ago.
"Four run-outs is just not good enough, and I think probably a little bit of panic set in, which we've prided ourselves on not doing recently," he said.
"We'll have to learn a lesson from that, because we were in a pretty good position, probably threatening a 300-plus score."
Sri Lanka always looked composed in their run chase, Dimuth Karunaratne and Dilshan putting on 64 for the first wicket.
The Kiwis managed to remove Karunaratne for 21 and Kumar Sangakkara for 38, but Dilshan was simply remorseless.
He accumulated 116 runs in 127 balls, including 17 fours, and received solid support from
Sangakkara (38), Mahela Jayawardene (27) and Angelo Mathews (39).
When he finally top-edged Matt Henry to wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi, Sri Lanka were 12 runs shy of the win with just under five overs remaining.
"Credit to Sri Lanka, they bounced back after the other day and we're going to have to do the same in the next game," McCullum said.
Addressing the hesitancy and confusion which plagued the Black Caps between the wickets will be a key focus, he added.
The skipper did his bit in setting up the Kiwis with an 89-ball century, his 117 taking 99 balls and including 12 fours and five sixes.
But once McCullum was gone, caught and bowled by Jeevan Mendis with the first ball of the 31st over, the next five wickets fell for 49 runs.
Daniel Vettori, Ronchi, Corey Anderson and Nathan McCullum were all run out, between them adding just 25 to the score.
Adam Milne contributed a handy 19 off 27 balls, Trent Boult then belting two consecutive sixes in the last over before holing out on the last ball.
Sri Lanka's spinners picked up five wickets between them, Rangana Herath snaring 2-36, Sachithra Senanayake 2-55 and allrounder Mendis 1-47.
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