Sri Lanka and New Zealand are currently locking horns in the second and final Test at Galle. In the match, dominated particularly by Sri Lankan spinners, the tourists struggled significantly in their first innings.
Sri Lanka are on the brink of a dominant series victory against the Kiwis, ending Day 3 with the tourists at 199-5 after bowling them out for a below-par 88 in their first innings. Tom Blundell remains not out on 47, while Glenn Phillips is unbeaten at 32. Due to bad light, the play in Galle was curtailed after debutant off-spinner Nishan Peiris claimed three crucial wickets in the top order.
He launched his attack early on, dismissing captain Tom Latham on the last delivery of the first over, leaving the batter without scoring. Devon Conway then partnered with former captain Kane Williamson and stitched a resilient 97-run partnership for the second wicket. Conway scored 61 runs off 62 balls before being tempted into a drive by Dhananjaya de Silva, resulting in a stunning catch by Dinesh Chandimal. Williamson fell at 46 after miscalculating a delivery off Peiris, with substitute Ramesh Mendis taking a catch at long-on.
Batting first after winning the toss, Sri Lanka declared at a mammoth 602-5 on Day 2. Chandimal and Kamindu Mendis emerged as standout performers for Sri Lanka, scoring respective centuries. Chandimal scored 116 off 208, featuring 15 boundaries. Kamindu, on the other hand, finished unbeaten on 182, as he crossed the 1000-run mark in Tests in 13 innings, an Asian record. Glenn Phillips was the sole bowler to shine for the tourists, who claimed three wickets, even as he conceded nearly 150 runs.
New Zealand’s batting was thoroughly dismantled by Sri Lankan spinners Prabath Jayasuriya and debutant Peiris. Jayasuriya took 6 wickets for 42 runs, and Peiris finished with impressive figures of 3/33, leading to New Zealand being bowled out for just 88 runs, marking their lowest all-out total against Sri Lanka.
With this spell, Jayasuriya achieved his ninth five-wicket haul in red-ball cricket. He now aims to dismiss the remaining five New Zealand batters to equal the record for the fastest bowler to reach 100 Test wickets, a feat held by England’s George Lohmann since 1896.
