Home Cricket National Cricket New Zealand snatch control as Sri Lanka lose top three

New Zealand snatch control as Sri Lanka lose top three

Sri Lanka tour of New Zealand 2023

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Sri Lanka saw the advantage in the Christchurch Test snatched away from them as New Zealand consolidated expertly following Daryl Mitchell’s innings-reviving century and Matt Henry’s counter-attacking 72.

The visitors allowed New Zealand to claw their way back from an overnight score of 163/5 to finish 18 runs ahead of their total of 355. Sri Lanka’s woes were compounded further as they also lost three wickets – all to Blair Tickner – to finish Day 3 limply on 83 for 3.

Despite the appreciable swing and seam movement that Sri Lanka’s quicks extracted on the third morning, their hopes of establishing a big first-innings lead were quashed by the consistent revivor of New Zealand from doldrums – Daryl Mitchell.

Not for the first time, Mitchell picked up the pieces after a top-order collapse and put it all together with a gritty century. Asitha Fernando and Kasun Rajitha challenged both the edges of the batting pair but just couldn’t break through. Right-arm offspinner Prabath Jayasuriya found a way, as he got Bracewell to nick one behind to Niroshan Dickwella off a ball that didn’t turn as much as the left-hander anticipated.

Matt Henry proved to be a fine batting foil for Mitchell as he continued to chip away at Sri Lanka’s lead. Shortly after Lunch, he reached his fifth Test hundred as Sri Lanka ran out of options in their quest for wickets. Mitchell gifted one to them when in a rare lapse of concentration, he fished outside the offstump against a length ball from Lahiru Kumara and nicked to Dickwella, departing for 102.

Henry then took centrestage to deny Sri Lanka an easy way out against New Zealand’s tail as he threw his bat around, rather successfully. A frenzied four-over period fetched 69 runs as he went after Dhananjaya de Silva (17 runs in an over; two sixes, one four) and Asitha (11 runs; one four, one six) and Rajitha (24 runs; one six, four fours). Through this onslaught, Henry brought up his fourth Test half-century. More importantly, New Zealand wiped out a big chunk of the deficit in quick time as Sri Lanka completely lost control of the proceedings.

By the time Henry was cleaned up for 72 off 75, New Zealand had done what seemed unlikely at the end of Day 2 – going past Sri Lanka’s first-innings total. Asitha finished with a four-fer as New Zealand were bundled out for 373 – taking a paltry lead of 18 runs.

New Zealand then pressed on their advantage via Blair Tickner. The strapping pacer cut a frustrated figure in the first innings where he went wicketless, but made up for it as he claimed all three Sri Lankan wickets to fall in the final session.

He set up the opposition captain superbly as he went short on successive balls and then pitched one up outside off, luring him with width. Karunaratne took the bait and attempted a drive away from his body, and Henry Nicholls pouched a sharp, diving catch at gully. Oshada Fernando’s exit was largely down to the batter’s cheekiness against the fast bowler, as he aimed to play a late upper

cut. He pulled it off on a short delivery but when Tickner altered his length a bit and bowled a length ball, the Sri Lankan opener ended up edging it to the keeper.

There was slight width for Kusal Mendis too and he responded with a fierce cut, only to edge it to Michael Bracewell at first slip with just 20 minutes left in play. As Jayasuriya walked out as the nightwatchman, New Zealand put multiple catchers around the bat, bowled bouncers and even burned a review in the hopes of sneaking in another wicket, but couldn’t. They’d still walk off as the happier side as Sri Lanka’s lead at stumps was only 65 runs.

Result


New Zealand
373/10 (107.3) & 285/8 (70)

Sri Lanka
355/10 (92.4) & 302/10 (105.3)

Batsmen R B 4s 6s SR
Oshada Fernando c Tom Blundell b Tim Southee 13 31 2 0 41.94
Dimuth Karunaratne c Tom Latham b Matt Henry 50 87 7 0 57.47
Kusal Mendis lbw b Tim Southee 87 83 16 0 104.82
Angelo Mathews c Mitchell Santner b Matt Henry 47 98 6 1 47.96
Dinesh Chandimal c Tom Latham b Tim Southee 39 64 6 0 60.94
Dhananjaya de Silva c Tom Blundell b Tim Southee 46 59 5 1 77.97
Niroshan Dickwella lbw b Michael Bracewell 7 13 1 0 53.85
Kasun Rajitha c William Somerville b Matt Henry 22 39 4 0 56.41
Prabath Jayasuriya c Tom Blundell b Matt Henry 13 40 0 0 32.50
Lahiru Kumara not out 13 32 2 0 40.62
Asitha Fernando  lbw b Tim Southee 10 10 2 0 100.00


Extras 8 (b 0 , lb 6 , nb 0, w 2, pen 0)
Total 355/10 (92.4 Overs, RR: 3.83)
Bowling O M R W Econ
Tim Southee 26.4 10 64 5 2.42
Matt Henry 26 8 80 4 3.08
Blair Tickner 20 2 103 0 5.15
Neil Wagner 10 1 68 0 6.80
Daryl Mitchell 7 3 17 0 2.43
Michael Bracewell 3 0 17 1 5.67
Batsmen R B 4s 6s SR
Tom Latham b Asitha Fernando  67 144 7 0 46.53
Devon Conway lbw b Asitha Fernando  30 88 2 0 34.09
Kane Williamson c Dimuth Karunaratne b Lahiru Kumara 1 11 0 0 9.09
Henry Nicholls c Kasun Rajitha b Lahiru Kumara 2 6 0 0 33.33
Daryl Mitchell c Niroshan Dickwella b Lahiru Kumara 102 193 6 2 52.85
Tom Blundell c Niroshan Dickwella b Kasun Rajitha 7 22 0 0 31.82
Michael Bracewell c Niroshan Dickwella b Prabath Jayasuriya 25 57 2 0 43.86
Tim Southee c Lahiru Kumara b Kasun Rajitha 25 20 3 1 125.00
Matt Henry b Asitha Fernando  72 75 10 3 96.00
Neil Wagner c Dhananjaya de Silva b Asitha Fernando  27 24 1 3 112.50
Blair Tickner not out 2 5 0 0 40.00


Extras 13 (b 4 , lb 6 , nb 0, w 3, pen 0)
Total 373/10 (107.3 Overs, RR: 3.47)
Bowling O M R W Econ
Kasun Rajitha 31 10 104 2 3.35
Asitha Fernando  29.3 5 85 4 2.90
Lahiru Kumara 25 5 76 3 3.04
Dhananjaya de Silva 9 2 34 0 3.78
Angelo Mathews 3 0 18 0 6.00
Prabath Jayasuriya 10 1 46 1 4.60
Batsmen R B 4s 6s SR
Oshada Fernando c Tom Blundell b Blair Tickner 28 52 4 0 53.85
Dimuth Karunaratne c Henry Nicholls b Blair Tickner 17 45 1 0 37.78
Kusal Mendis c Michael Bracewell b Blair Tickner 14 55 1 0 25.45
Angelo Mathews c Tom Blundell b Henry Nicholls 115 235 11 0 48.94
Prabath Jayasuriya c Tom Blundell b Blair Tickner 6 32 0 0 18.75
Dinesh Chandimal b Tim Southee 42 107 2 0 39.25
Dhananjaya de Silva not out 47 73 7 0 64.38
Niroshan Dickwella c Tom Blundell b Matt Henry 0 4 0 0 0.00
Kasun Rajitha lbw b Matt Henry 14 21 2 0 66.67
Lahiru Kumara run out (Kane Williamson) 8 6 2 0 133.33
Asitha Fernando  c Kane Williamson b Tim Southee 0 3 0 0 0.00


Extras 11 (b 4 , lb 3 , nb 0, w 4, pen 0)
Total 302/10 (105.3 Overs, RR: 2.86)
Bowling O M R W Econ
Tim Southee 26.3 9 57 2 2.17
Matt Henry 28 5 71 3 2.54
Blair Tickner 28 1 100 4 3.57
Neil Wagner 3 0 9 0 3.00
Daryl Mitchell 12 2 31 0 2.58
Michael Bracewell 8 1 27 0 3.38


Batsmen R B 4s 6s SR
Tom Latham b Prabath Jayasuriya 25 80 3 0 31.25
Devon Conway c & b Kasun Rajitha 5 16 0 0 31.25
Kane Williamson not out 121 194 11 1 62.37
Henry Nicholls c Kusal Mendis b Prabath Jayasuriya 20 24 1 0 83.33
Daryl Mitchell b Asitha Fernando  81 86 3 4 94.19
Tom Blundell b Asitha Fernando  3 5 0 0 60.00
Michael Bracewell c Chamika Karunaratne b Asitha Fernando  10 11 1 0 90.91
Tim Southee c Dhananjaya de Silva b Lahiru Kumara 1 2 0 0 50.00
Matt Henry run out (Kasun Rajitha) 4 3 0 0 133.33
Neil Wagner not out 0 0 0 0 0.00


Extras 15 (b 5 , lb 3 , nb 1, w 6, pen 0)
Total 285/8 (70 Overs, RR: 4.07)
Bowling O M R W Econ
Kasun Rajitha 17 5 61 1 3.59
Asitha Fernando  19 4 63 3 3.32
Prabath Jayasuriya 19 1 92 2 4.84
Lahiru Kumara 15 3 61 1 4.07