cracking 91 by Tillakaratne Dilshan after a fiery net session set Sri Lanka up for an eight-a wicket victory over New Zealand in Nelson / .W'' \ on Thursday to keep their one-day series 1^6 alive.

Sri Lanka knocked off their 277-run target with 22 balls to spare in a remarkable turnaround after being outplayed in the first two matches.

In addition to Dilshan's heroics, LahiruThirimanne cracked an unbeaten 87 and Danushka Gunathilaka made 65.

Dinesh Chandimal was not out 27 at the end as the match followed the same formula as the first two where the team that lost the toss batted second and dominated.

New Zealand now lead the series 2-1 with two matches remaining.

In contrast to Sri Lanka's rollicking performance, the New Zealand innings showed signs of rust after so few batsmen had a chance to get in the middle in the first two games.

SCORES IN BRIEF

NEW ZEALAND: 276 for 8 (Guptill 30, Latham 42, Williamson 59, Santner 38; Pradeep 2-55, Chameera 2-38, Vandersay 2-55) SRI LANKA: 277 for 2 in 46.2 overs (Gunathilaka 65, Dilshan 91, Thirimanne 87 not out; McClenaghan 1-39) Result Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets.