Sri Lanka flatter to deceive on rain hit day

Sri Lanka’s young batting lineup showed a lot of promise on day one of the 2nd Test against New Zealand in Hamilton earlier today.

Unfortunately, however, none of the batsmen were able to convert the starts they got to make big runs and the visitors finished on 264/7 as rain brought the day to an early close.

The pitch had been a major topic of conversation in the days preceding the test and the amount of grass left on it as well as his ample fast bowling stocks convinced Black Caps skipper Brendon McCullum, playing his 99th consecutive test match: a new world record, to send the Sri Lankans in to bat upon winning the toss. Playing an unchanged XI, Sri Lanka’s openers Kusal Mendis and Dimuth Karunaratne set about things differently to how they did in Dunedin.

Karunaratne was his own watchful self but Mendis looked to play his shots, whipping the ball to the fence when given width. Having been dropped in just the 2nd over of the game, Mendis took some risks setting the pace of the innings and had luck on his side more often than not: Doug Bracewell got through his defense and hit the off stump only to have the bails stay on. Tim Southee dismissed both openers on either side of the 1st drinks break; drawing an  inside edge off Karunaratne’s bat and following it up with the outside edge of Mendis’ bat in his next over.

The seam and swing that could potentially be on offer on a conducive pitch perhaps went to the heads of both Southee and Trent Boult, who looked to extract prodigious swing where a more conventional line and length would have done the trick. Sri Lanka’s plan on the other hand seemed to be to combat unfavourable conditions with aggression and they looked to take on the Kiwi bowlers. While they ducked and weaved under the short ball in Dunedin, today they looked to hook and pull.

Dinesh Chandimal edged his first ball for four and then launched his counter attack proper against Bracewell who he launched for 16 runs in the 20th over of the day. Udara Jayasundera was also aggressive at the other end and looked way more comfortable actually playing the pull shot today than he did avoiding it in the last test.

Chandimal’s onslaught negated the movement the bowlers were getting and they soon adopted the short ball approach to him. It would be fair to say that Sri Lanka finished the 1st session well as they headed into lunch on 108/2. Chandimal and Jayasundera had put together a 64 run partnership in 12 overs and looked like they were in for some big scores.

The post lunch session brought to more wickets for the hosts. The first of which was pretty disappointing: Jayasundera was run out looking for a second run that Chandimal just did not want. Of all the ways to get out on what was looking to be pretty flat wicket this will probably hurt the most for a guy just making his way into the team.

Chandimal was dismissed three short of a half century a couple of overs later as his aggressive intent got the better of him and he tried to play an expansive drive and only succeeding in nicking it to BJ Watling. Doug Bracewell finally picked up a wicket after being arguably New Zealand’s best yet unluckiest bowlers on tour. Sri Lanka had gone from a position of strength to trouble in the space of a few overs.

Milinda Siriwardene was promoted ahead of Kithruwan Vithanage and he and Skipper Angelo Mathews began rebuilding Sri Lanka’s innings in much the same way as the last two batsmen had. It was slow going in the 1st hour of the post lunch session but the two grew in confidence and began taking on the bowlers on what was fast becoming a flat wicket. By tea, the pair was scoring at nearly 4 runs an over and looking exceedingly confortable in the middle.

The post tea session was Sri Lanka’s timeto really dig in and make some runs and they started off pretty well with Siriwardene belting Santner for 6 in the 1st over after tea. Santner bore the brunt of Sri Lanka attacking instincts going for 34 runs off 7 overs with the Lankans viewing him as the weak link of the Kiwi bowling attack.

Sri Lanka’s hopes of getting to a big total were dashed when Boult came back to pick up Siriwardene for a well-made 62 and then Vithanage for a duck in his next over. Overcast conditions seemed to bring back some life into the bowlers and they next had Rangana Herath run out trying to steal a single after Mathews had knocked the ball to the gully area.

Sri Lanka will rue what could have been if their batsmen had made the most of the starts they got. Now it will be up to Captain Mathews to ensure that the tourists get to a respectable 1st innings total.