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Lauderhill - Scott Styris took three wickets for 10 runs as New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 29 runs in a Twenty20 cricket match Saturday - the first major cricket international played in the United States.
Ross Taylor made 27 from 30 balls and Daniel Vettori was 21 not out from 16 as New Zealand made 120-7 at Central Broward Regional Park Cricket Stadium.
The match began at about 3:15pm in Florida, or about 7am in New Zealand and just past midnight in Sri Lanka. The captains received a warm reception when they walked out for the toss, which was won by Vettori, who elected to bat first on a slow pitch.
Styris took three wickets in a three-over spell, while Kyle Mills had figures of 2-17 and Vettori 1-11 from four overs as New Zealand restricted Sri Lanka to 91 in 19.4 overs in reply.
Angelo Mathews top-scored for Sri Lanka with 27.
The teams meet in a second Twenty20 match at the same venue on Sunday.
The match was the brainchild of U.S. Cricket chief executive Don Lockerbie as part of the Destination USA program, a strategic partnership between USA Cricket and New Zealand Cricket.
"A great facility, a great venue," Vettori said. "We have to treat this with respect. ... This is an international game."
The fans cheered when openers Brendon McCullum and Aaron Redmond made their way to the middle of the field.
And in the third over, McCullum brought the crowd to its feet when he struck Nuwan Kulasekara for the first international six on American soil.
