NZ staring at huge defeat after Lankan batters & spinners made merry in 2nd test

 

After losing a well-contested first test, New Zealand is staring at a certain and huge defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the 2nd test. Sri Lanka batted first and, after 3 centuries in their innings, the hosts amassed 602 before declaring and then skittled out the tourists for a paltry 88 in the first innings, enforcing the follow-on.

Batting first, Sri Lankan batters completely dominated the Kiwi bowling as they piled on the runs. After losing Nissanka (1) early, the hosts never looked back. First, it was the solid Karunaratne (46) and Chandimal building the platform with a 122-run stand. After Karunaratne departed, Chandimal found an able ally in the seasoned Angelo Mathews, and they put together a 97-run stand. Chandimal (116) played a superb knock, scoring a fabulous century and playing several sparkling shots. After Chandimal's departure, Mathews was joined by the latest sensation in world cricket, Kamindu Mendis.

Mathews, after scoring a solid 88, departed early on day 2. Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva joined Kamindu but could not capitalize on his start, being dismissed for 44 by Glenn Phillips. This brought Kusal Mendis and Kamindu together, and they remained undefeated with a century stand of 200 runs. Mendis scored a sparkling 116 and played some fabulous shots towards the end, while Kamindu Mendis, in a purple patch, continued his record-setting spree, scoring 1,000 runs in tests in just 8 matches. He has now notched up 5 test hundreds, equaling Don Bradman for the quickest first 5 test centuries. However, after reaching 602, de Silva declared, leaving Kamindu Mendis not out at 182, thus denying him his first test double hundred. Glenn Phillips took the maximum of 3 wickets for the hapless Kiwi bowling.

New Zealand, batting late on day 2, lost both openers cheaply and ended the day at 22/2.

On day 3, it was total carnage as Prabhat Jayasuriya took yet another test fifer, ripping through the Kiwi first innings as wickets fell like ninepins. Debutant off-break bowler Nishan Peiris took 3 wickets, while Jayasuriya claimed 6/42. Santner top-scored with 29, while only 2 other players reached double digits in a dismal New Zealand first innings score of 88.

With a whopping 514-run lead, de Silva enforced the follow-on, and New Zealand lost Latham cheaply again. Devon Conway, who had been enduring a wretched run of poor scores, finally started to hit out and smashed his way to 61, while Kane Williamson scored a decent 46 as the Kiwis appeared to be making a fight of it. However, at 97, Conway departed for 61, and the tourists lost the next four wickets cheaply for 24 runs, with Williamson dismissed for the second time on the same day. Both Ravindra and Mitchell failed to contribute. Tim Blundell (44* not out) and Glenn Phillips (32* not out) were showing fight towards the end of day 3 as New Zealand reached 199/5, still 315 runs behind when bad light stopped play. Debutant Peiris has already taken another 3 wickets in the second innings for Sri Lanka, and they are poised to wrap up the test on day four for a series whitewash.