Sri Lanka wins toss, bats in 7th ODI vs. New Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat Thursday in the seventh limited-overs cricket international against New Zealand, which holds an unbeatable 4-1 lead in the seven-match series.

Both teams are without their first-choice captains. Lahiru Thirimanne will lead Sri Lanka for the third time in the series in the absence of Angelo Mathews who has flu, while Kane Williamson takes over from Brendon McCullum who is being rested.

New Zealand named Tom Latham to open the batting in McCullum’s absence and Tim Southee in place of Trent Boult.

Sri Lanka made four changes, naming Seekkuge Prassana, Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga and Dushmantha Chameera in place of Jeevan Mendis, Rangana Herath, Dhammika Prasad and Suranga Lakmal. Chameera is making his one-day international debut.
___

Lineups:

New Zealand: Tom Latham, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson (captain), Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi, Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills, Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim Southee.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Lahiru Thirimanne (captain), Dinesh Chandimal, Thisara Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga, Dushmantha Chameera.

Umpires: Chris Gaffaney, New Zealand, and Rod Tucker, Australia.

TV umpire: Michael Gough, England. Match referee: Javagal Srinath, India.

(AP)