Kane Williamson completed his 13th Test century helping New Zealand chase down 189 in the final innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Hamilton with five wickets in hand to complete a 2-0 series victory for the Black Caps.
Needing 47 runs to win when the play resumed on day four, New Zealand took just 75 deliveries to knock down the runs with no panic whatsoever. This win extends the New Zealand’s unbeaten streak at home to 13 Tests, equaling their longest in the toughest format of cricket.
Williamson started aggressively as he scored three boundaries in the first two overs from Dushmantha Chameera to get into the nineties. BJ Watling on the other end adopted a more cautious approach.
Williamson, however, dominated the strike to dash Sri Lanka’s hopes of victory and brought up his 13th Test century when he pulled Chameera behind square for his fifth boundary of the day to move to 102. The shot moved him to 1,166 runs, surpassing the 1,164 his captain McCullum scored in 2014. Williamson finished 108 not out, taking his run tally in 2015 to 1,172 – the most by a New Zealander in a calendar year – at an average of 90.15.
Without a doubt, Williamson bagged the man of the match award for his unbeaten century in the fourth innings. Neither side truly got to grips with the wicket throughout the match as short-pitched bowling produced extravagant bounce that resulted in numerous mistimed pull or hook shots to fielders in the outfield.
The hosts capitalized on a spectacular collapse by Sri Lanka on Sunday, when they took all 10 wickets for 62 runs either side of lunch to set up their modest victory target. From the visitor’s point of view, the biggest positive of the match was Dushmantha Chameera’s excellent bowling as he almost, single-handedly, won the match for Sri Lanka.
“I thought we had a chance, we made a mockery out of our batting in the second innings. The character the boys showed, especially Dushmatha Chameera was simply amazing.” A dejected Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews said at the post-match presentation.
The action now shifts to the five-match One-Day International series with the first game scheduled to begin in Christchurch on 26th December.
Full Scorecard
| Batsman | How Out | Bowler | Runs | Mins | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR |
| Karunaratne | c Watling | b Southee | 12 | 56 | 45 | 1 | 0 | 26.66 |
| Mendis | c Watling | b Southee | 31 | 67 | 42 | 4 | 0 | 73.80 |
| Jayasundera | run out (Santner/Watling) | 26 | 79 | 54 | 2 | 0 | 48.14 | |
| Chandimal | c Watling | b Bracewell | 47 | 82 | 56 | 7 | 0 | 83.92 |
| Mathews | c Latham | b Southee | 77 | 184 | 125 | 7 | 3 | 61.60 |
| Siriwardana | c Taylor | b Boult | 62 | 132 | 81 | 5 | 3 | 76.54 |
| Vithanage | c McCullum | b Boult | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Herath | run out (Williamson) | 4 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 66.66 | |
| Chameera | c McCullum | b Bracewell | 4 | 58 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 8.69 |
| Lakmal | c Williamson | b Wagner | 4 | 21 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 23.52 |
| Pradeep | not out | 2 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 | |
| Extras | (lb 11, w 12) | 23 | ||||||
| Total | (80.1 overs) | 292 all out | ||||||
| Bowling | Over | Maidens | Runs | Wicket | Econ |
| Boult | 20 | 2 | 51 | 2 | 2.55 |
| Southee | 21 | 5 | 63 | 3 | 3.00 |
| Bracewell | 22.1 | 4 | 81 | 2 | 3.65 |
| Wagner | 9 | 1 | 51 | 1 | 5.66 |
| Santner | 7 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 4.85 |
| Williamson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Batsman | How Out | Bowler | Runs | Mins | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR |
| Guptill | c Mathews | b Herath | 50 | 112 | 77 | 9 | 1 | 64.93 |
| Latham | c Karunaratne | b Chameera | 28 | 99 | 72 | 3 | 1 | 38.88 |
| Williamson | c Lakmal | b Chameera | 1 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Taylor | c Chandimal | b Chameera | 0 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| McCullum | c Mendis | b Herath | 18 | 80 | 54 | 2 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Santner | c Chandimal | b Pradeep | 38 | 152 | 105 | 3 | 1 | 36.19 |
| Watling | c Vithanage | b Lakmal | 28 | 123 | 82 | 4 | 0 | 34.14 |
| Bracewell | not out | 35 | 87 | 52 | 5 | 0 | 67.30 | |
| Southee | c Jayasundera | b Chameera | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Wagner | c Vithanage | b Chameera | 17 | 34 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 65.38 |
| Boult | c Herath | b Pradeep | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | (lb 3, w 8, nb 7) | 18 | ||||||
| Total | (79.4 overs) | 237 all out | ||||||
| Bowling | Over | Maidens | Runs | Wicket | Econ |
| Lakmal | 16 | 4 | 48 | 1 | 3.00 |
| Mathews | 11 | 7 | 25 | 0 | 2.27 |
| Pradeep | 17.4 | 4 | 39 | 2 | 2.20 |
| Herath | 22 | 1 | 75 | 2 | 3.40 |
| Chameera | 13 | 3 | 47 | 5 | 3.61 |
| Batsman | How Out | Bowler | Runs | Mins | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR |
| Karunaratne | c Southee | b Bracewell | 27 | 111 | 65 | 1 | 0 | 41.53 |
| Mendis | c Santner | b Southee | 46 | 145 | 90 | 8 | 0 | 51.11 |
| Jayasundera | c Watling | b Bracewell | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Chandimal | c Guptill | b Wagner | 4 | 17 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 40.00 |
| Mathews | c Watling | b Southee | 2 | 22 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Siriwardana | c Boult | b Wagner | 26 | 19 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 144.44 |
| Vithanage | c Bracewell | b Wagner | 9 | 21 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 150.00 |
| Herath | b Southee | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| Chameera | run out (Boult/Wagner) | 2 | 17 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 22.22 | |
| Lakmal | not out | 1 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10.00 | |
| Pradeep | c Watling | b Southee | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | (b 4, lb 2, w 7, nb 3) | 16 | ||||||
| Total | (36.3 overs) | 133 all out | ||||||
| Bowling | Over | Maidens | Runs | Wicket | Econ |
| Boult | 7 | 1 | 30 | 0 | 4.28 |
| Southee | 12.3 | 2 | 26 | 4 | 2.08 |
| Bracewell | 8 | 1 | 31 | 2 | 3.87 |
| Wagner | 9 | 2 | 40 | 3 | 4.44 |
| Batsman | How Out | Bowler | Runs | Mins | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR |
| Latham | c Pradeep | b Chameera | 4 | 15 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 44.44 |
| Guptill | c Karunaratne | b Chameera | 1 | 27 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 6.25 |
| Williamson | not out | 108 | 245 | 164 | 12 | 1 | 65.85 | |
| Taylor | c sub (JDF Vandersay) | b Chameera | 35 | 91 | 53 | 2 | 0 | 66.03 |
| McCullum | c Mathews | b Chameera | 18 | 56 | 35 | 2 | 0 | 51.42 |
| Santner | c Chandimal | b Lakmal | 4 | 29 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 21.05 |
| Watling | not out | 13 | 56 | 36 | 2 | 0 | 36.11 | |
| Extras | (lb 1, nb 5) | 6 | ||||||
| Total | (5 wickets; 54.3 overs) | 189 won the match | ||||||
Did not bat: DAJ Bracewell, N Wagner, TG Southee, TA Boult
| Bowling | Over | Maidens | Runs | Wicket | Econ |
| Chameera | 17 | 1 | 68 | 4 | 4.00 |
| Lakmal | 12 | 4 | 20 | 1 | 1.66 |
| Herath | 11 | 0 | 48 | 0 | 4.36 |
| Pradeep | 12 | 1 | 43 | 0 | 3.58 |
| Mathews | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4.00 |
| Siriwardana | 1.3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3.33 |
