Lunch Sri Lanka 140 for 6 (Dhananjaya de Silva 30*, Dilruwan Perara 3*) v New Zealand
Two double-wicket maidens by New Zealand’s seam-bowling duo of Trent Boult and Tim Southee bookended an opening session that left Sri Lanka struggling on the second day of the second Test.
Sri Lanka had resumed on a fairly steady 85 for 2 after overnight rains delayed the scheduled start by 45 minutes, and with captain Dimuth Karunaratne gliding a single to third man to bring up a 23rd Test match half-century early on, looked in good shape. Then Boult happened.
In his third over of the day, the left-arm pacer had Angelo Mathews as victim No. 250 in Test cricket, caught down the legside trying to pull a short ball that didn’t come on as quickly as he thought. Four balls later, Boult got one to jag back in from a length to Kusal Perera, who had completely mis-read which way the ball was travelling. As a result, he was left standing while shouldering arms as the ball thudded into his pads. Not offering a shot and with the ball hitting him right in front, he wisely opted not to take a review and walked off.
From a steady 93 for 2, Sri Lanka were a wobbly 93 for 4, with only Karunaratne’s continued presence at the crease offering some succour. The captain built a steady stand with a very skittish Dhananjaya de Silva, who was fortunate to survive when he lobbed up a leading edge off Boult before he was into double figures. Boult, who has caught the imagination with several breath-taking catches on the boundary, saw an absolute dolly pop in and out of his hands.
Dhananjaya was still surviving on edge, with the ball not always meeting the middle of the bat and one inside edge whizzing past the stumps to the boundary, but he hung on to survive through the session.
Karunaratne’s solidity at the other end meant Sri Lanka looked like they were climbing out of the hole Boult had dug for them, only for Southee to barge them right back in. Southee kept angling the ball across the left-handed Karunaratne, subtly varying his movement and lines. Dragged across by Southee’s lines until one was pitched on the perfect length that tempted him into the drive, but kept moving away off the seam to catch the edge and settle into BJ Watling’s gloves.
Three balls later, a leaden-footed Niroshan Dickwella was caught on the crease as another edge went to Watling, and Sri Lanka were in fresh trouble. Dhananjaya held on till the lunch break, while Dilruwan Perera copped a blow on the glove of his bowling hand which needed treatment, a potential further cause for worry for the home side.