Dambulla: Sri Lanka's spinners spun a web around New Zealand's batsmen to win the rain-hit third and final one-day international in Dambulla on Saturday and draw the series 1-1.
The Black Caps, set a Duckworth-Lewis target of 216 in 33 overs, were 126-6 in 25 overs when bad light ended play early in this central Sri Lankan town.
The tourists, who should have been 162 at that stage, were declared losers by 36 runs as per the D/L method to determine rain-affected matches.
Earlier, Tillakaratne Dilshan hit 53 as Sri Lanka scored 211-8 from 33 overs.
The match, delayed by 90 minutes due to bad weather, had been earlier truncated to 43 overs-a-side before another wet spell reduced it further to 33 overs each.
Sri Lanka, who were 91-0 at one stage following Dilshan's opening partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, slipped to 110-4 and then 146-6 against the steady Black Caps attack.
Nathan McCullum removed Jayawardene (46) and Kumar Sangakkara in three balls, before left-arm seamer Mitchell McClenaghan dismissed Dilshan and skipper Angelo Mathews off successive balls.
The ninth-wicket pair of Sachithra Senanayake and Rangana Herath boosted the total by smashing 18 runs in the final over bowled by seamer Andrew Ellis.
Earlier, New Zealand have won the toss and have opted to field.
Both teams made one change -- for Sri Lanka Perera replaces Karunaratne and for Kiwis Mitchell comes in for Milne.
Teams:
Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal (w), Angelo Mathews (c), Lahiru Thirimanne, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachithra Senanayake, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath
New Zealand: Tom Latham, Anton Devcich, Rob Nicol, Grant Elliott, Colin Munro, Luke Ronchi (w), Jimmy Neesham, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills (c), Andrew Ellis, Mitchell McClenaghan