Tom Latham and Kane Williamson stroked valuable half-centuries as New Zealand took major honours after bowling out Sri Lanka earlier on day two of the first Test at Galle International Cricket Stadium.
It took just 3.5 overs for New Zealand to wrap up Sri Lanka’s first innings, claiming the last three wickets. O’Rourke shone for the Black Caps, picking up two more scalps to claim his second five-wicket haul.
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However, rain disrupted play twice in the morning, with the first coming right after Sri Lanka lost their eighth wicket, and the second occurred after the first over of New Zealand’s first innings. As a result, play resumed at 12.40 PM after lunch.
Conway and Latham provided them a solid start, with the latter particularly keeping the scoreboard ticking. The 63-run opening stand was broken when Conway was given out LBW off Ramesh, after a successful review.
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With the Lankan spinners missing their areas, Latham and Williamson capitalized, adding another fine 73 runs. The opener brought up his 29th half-century before falling for 70 at the stroke of tea.
New Zealand continued to pile on the runs as their former captain notched up his 35th Test fifty, adding a 51-run partnership for the third wicket with Ravindra.
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The hosts needed something brilliant to remove the experienced batter, and Kusal Mendis provided it with an outstanding one-handed catch, moving swiftly to his right off Dhananjaya’s bowling.
The Sri Lankan captain proved to be the man with the golden arm, striking for the second time in successive overs by castling Ravindra for 39 after the batter misjudged a straight delivery.
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An unbeaten partnership of 59 between Mitchell and Blundell put the visitors in control at the end of the second day, trailing by just 50 runs with 6 wickets in hand.
Brief Scores:
Sri Lanka 305 (91.5) Kamindu Mendis 114, Kusal Mendis 50, Angelo Mathews 36, Will O’Rourke 5/55, Glenn Phillips 2/52, Tim Southee 1/48
New Zealand 255/4 (72) Tom Latham 70, Kane Williamson 55, Daryl Mitchell 41*, Dhananjaya De Silva 2/31, Ramesh Mendis 1/69, Prabath Jayasuriya 1/99
Day 2 Stumps
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | b William O’Rourke | 27 | 25 | 5 | 0 | 108.00 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c Tom Blundell b William O’Rourke | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | c Michael Bracewell b Tim Southee | 30 | 71 | 3 | 0 | 42.25 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Tom Blundell b William O’Rourke | 36 | 116 | 3 | 0 | 31.03 |
| Kamindu Mendis | c Mitchell Santner b Ajaz Patel | 114 | 173 | 11 | 0 | 65.90 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | b Glenn Phillips | 11 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 45.83 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Tim Southee b Glenn Phillips | 50 | 68 | 7 | 0 | 73.53 |
| Ramesh Mendis | lbw b William O’Rourke | 14 | 49 | 2 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | lbw b Ajaz Patel | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Lahiru Kumara | not out | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Asitha Fernando | b William O’Rourke | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 19 (b 4 , lb 10 , nb 4, w 1, pen 0) |
| Total | 305/10 (91.5 Overs, RR: 3.32) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Southee | 14 | 2 | 48 | 1 | 3.43 | |
| William O’Rourke | 18.5 | 4 | 55 | 5 | 2.97 | |
| Ajaz Patel | 20 | 4 | 60 | 2 | 3.00 | |
| Mitchell Santner | 19 | 2 | 64 | 0 | 3.37 | |
| Glenn Phillips | 18 | 0 | 52 | 2 | 2.89 | |
| Rachin Ravindra | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Latham | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Prabath Jayasuriya | 70 | 111 | 6 | 0 | 63.06 |
| Devon Conway | lbw b Ramesh Mendis | 17 | 59 | 1 | 0 | 28.81 |
| Kane Williamson | c Kusal Mendis b Dhananjaya de Silva | 55 | 104 | 4 | 1 | 52.88 |
| Rachin Ravindra | b Dhananjaya de Silva | 39 | 48 | 4 | 0 | 81.25 |
| Daryl Mitchell | run out (Kusal Mendis) | 57 | 86 | 7 | 1 | 66.28 |
| Tom Blundell | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Prabath Jayasuriya | 25 | 65 | 1 | 1 | 38.46 |
| Glenn Phillips | not out | 49 | 48 | 2 | 5 | 102.08 |
| Mitchell Santner | c Kusal Mendis b Prabath Jayasuriya | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Tim Southee | b Prabath Jayasuriya | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 30.00 |
| Ajaz Patel | lbw b Ramesh Mendis | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| William O’Rourke | b Ramesh Mendis | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Extras | 15 (b 8 , lb 3 , nb 2, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 340/10 (90.5 Overs, RR: 3.74) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asitha Fernando | 7 | 1 | 25 | 0 | 3.57 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 12 | 5 | 28 | 0 | 2.33 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 7 | 0 | 31 | 2 | 4.43 | |
| Ramesh Mendis | 23.5 | 1 | 101 | 3 | 4.30 | |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | 40 | 5 | 136 | 4 | 3.40 | |
| Kamindu Mendis | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Tim Southee b William O’Rourke | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | b Ajaz Patel | 83 | 127 | 6 | 0 | 65.35 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | c Tom Latham b William O’Rourke | 61 | 150 | 6 | 0 | 40.67 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Mitchell Santner b Ajaz Patel | 50 | 111 | 5 | 0 | 45.05 |
| Kamindu Mendis | c Mitchell Santner b William O’Rourke | 13 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 108.33 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | st Tom Blundell b Ajaz Patel | 40 | 77 | 4 | 0 | 51.95 |
| Kusal Mendis | b Ajaz Patel | 23 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 76.67 |
| Ramesh Mendis | lbw b Ajaz Patel | 1 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 5.56 |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | c William O’Rourke b Mitchell Santner | 11 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 45.83 |
| Lahiru Kumara | c Kane Williamson b Ajaz Patel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Asitha Fernando | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 25 (b 11 , lb 8 , nb 4, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 309/10 (94.2 Overs, RR: 3.28) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William O’Rourke | 17 | 2 | 49 | 3 | 2.88 | |
| Ajaz Patel | 30 | 8 | 90 | 6 | 3.00 | |
| Mitchell Santner | 14.2 | 2 | 51 | 1 | 3.59 | |
| Tim Southee | 16 | 4 | 39 | 0 | 2.44 | |
| Glenn Phillips | 12 | 1 | 50 | 0 | 4.17 | |
| Rachin Ravindra | 5 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 2.20 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Latham | lbw b Dhananjaya de Silva | 28 | 68 | 2 | 0 | 41.18 |
| Devon Conway | b Asitha Fernando | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 57.14 |
| Kane Williamson | st Kusal Mendis b Prabath Jayasuriya | 30 | 46 | 3 | 1 | 65.22 |
| Rachin Ravindra | lbw b Prabath Jayasuriya | 92 | 168 | 9 | 1 | 54.76 |
| Daryl Mitchell | b Ramesh Mendis | 8 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 30.77 |
| Tom Blundell | b Prabath Jayasuriya | 30 | 43 | 4 | 0 | 69.77 |
| Glenn Phillips | c Kusal Mendis b Prabath Jayasuriya | 4 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Mitchell Santner | c Pathum Nissanka b Ramesh Mendis | 2 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 9.09 |
| Tim Southee | lbw b Ramesh Mendis | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 22.22 |
| Ajaz Patel | not out | 2 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 9.09 |
| William O’Rourke | b Prabath Jayasuriya | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 9 (b 6 , lb 2 , nb 1, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 211/10 (71.4 Overs, RR: 2.94) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramesh Mendis | 25 | 3 | 81 | 3 | 3.24 | |
| Asitha Fernando | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2.50 | |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | 30.4 | 7 | 68 | 4 | 2.24 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 12 | 4 | 32 | 1 | 2.67 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 7.50 | |
