Henry Shipley fulfilled a dream during his first international match at home, with his parents and partner in attendance. In 42 prior List A matches, he had amassed a single five-wicket haul. At Eden Park, though, with the fans cheering him on, he dismissed Sri Lanka’s top order with the new ball and set New Zealand on the path to a massive victory.
Shipley was 5 for 31. All five dismissals came from Sri Lanka’s top seven players.
“Being able to play in front of a home crowd and hear that scream when things are going our way is very unique and something I’ll never forget,” Shipley said. It was quite wonderful to hear the commotion of the audience today and witness the tree stump soar through the air.
This was just Shipley’s fourth ODI, with the prior three occurring in India.
“India is a difficult country to visit, and you don’t win many in the subcontinent even if you try,” he remarked. “I suppose I might attempt to use the confidence I gained through enduring challenging circumstances here.”
New Zealand’s batting performance was not especially impressive, in part because Sri Lanka kept taking wickets just when partnerships appeared to be forming. Many batsmen were run out when attempting to hit short-ish deliveries for straight sixes, due in part to the increased bounce on the Eden Park surface and the desire to target the extremely narrow straight boundaries at this venue.
Despite this, New Zealand fought to 274.
Shipley stated that early communications from the hitters indicated that scoring would be quite challenging. “When you notice the short limits, you may be tempted to wager a large sum. I believe we performed well to reach our current position. With bowling, it was just a matter of applying pressure up top and attempting to contain them. After three or four repetitions, that began to work.”
