Dunedin, New Zealand: Luke Ronchi made 170 not out and Grant Elliott an unbeaten 104 in a record 267-run sixth-wicket partnership which blasted New Zealand to 360-5 batting first in Friday's fifth one-day international against Sri Lanka.
New Zealand was in deep trouble at 93-5 with five wickets down when Ronchi and Elliott came together at the end of the 20th over.
Ronchi smashed his 170, his maiden one-day international century, from just 99 balls and Elliott 104 from 96 deliveries as they produced New Zealand's highest partnership for all wickets against Sri Lanka and its second-highest against all nations.
New Zealand's total was its sixth highest in one-day internationals and Ronchi's was the highest score by a New Zealand batsman against Sri Lanka and its fourth-highest in all one-day matches.
Lahiru Thirimanne was appointed Sri Lanka captain in the absence of injured Angelo Mathews and won the toss.
The ball seamed early on a green pitch at the University Oval, New Zealand lost Martin Guptill to the first ball of the match and everything appeared to be going Thirimanne's way in his captaincy debut.
Nuwan Kulasekara added to his dismissal of Guptill by removing Brendon McCullum (25) in the 11th over; Thisara Perera dismissed Kane Williamson (26) who was a century-maker and led New Zealand's successful run chase in the fourth match at Nelson on Tuesday which established a 2-1 series lead.
Thirimanne brought himself on as second change and removed Ross Taylor (20), then Corey Anderson (8) to give his team the upper hand at the end of the 20th over.
But first Elliott stopped the decline, then combined with Ronchi to blast New Zealand to a giant total.
The pair scored accelerated their scoring rate from 6 per over in the first five overs of the partnership, up to 8 per over for much of the remainder of the innings, then up to 15 per over in the closing five as they capitalized on the short boundaries.
Suranga Lakmal was particularly punished, returning figures of 0-93 from ten overs, while Jeevan Mendis conceded 21 runs from his two overs.
