Tom Latham and Kane Williamson led New Zealand’s brilliant fightback as the Black Caps won 255-4 in a rain-soaked second day of the opening Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, having fallen 50 runs behind on Thursday.
Latham remained in good batting form after rain halted most of the morning session, scoring 70 off 111 balls, while Williamson dominated the day and laid a solid foundation with 55 off 104 balls.
Rachin Ravindra took 39 and Sri Lanka eased the pressure with a late strike, but Daryl Mitchell forced New Zealand to stumps for 41, with Tom Blundell providing ample support with 18.
Sri Lanka, who resumed play at 302-7 after Kamindu Mendis’ 114 the previous day, lost momentum early in the morning when Azaz Patel dug out for Prabhas Jayasuriya before two rain-induced delays began.
New Zealand pace bowler William O’Rourke returned from the break to take the last two wickets to finish with figures of 5-55, leaving the home team with just three runs more than their previous night’s total.
Sri Lankan players await the third-instance decision on an lbw appeal against New Zealand’s Tom Latham. | Photo Credit: AP
Sri Lankan players await the third-instance decision on an lbw appeal against New Zealand’s Tom Latham. | Photo Credit: AP
Sri Lanka struggled to stem the tide of runs in the sun-drenched weather after lunch. Latham reached his 29th Test fifty after Devon Conway was run out lbw by Ramesh Mendis, which was against the flow of play.
Just as New Zealand were looking to build a solid foundation, Latham left ahead of tea. The left-handed batsman made a rare mistake while sweeping and substitute Sadira Samarawickrama took a superb catch off Jayasuriya.
Williamson ignored the last over of the 73-run over and formed another superb partnership with Ravindra to claim his fifty, but the former captain made the most of a ball thrown by Dhanajaya de Silva to wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis.
Captain De Silva scored again in the next over, bowling out Ravindra after the batsman misjudged the line of the ball to take his team to 196-4, but Sri Lanka were unable to mount any further attack.
