Tearaway Chameera rocks New Zealand’s batting lineup

Dushmantha Chameera produced a fiery spell of bowling to leave New Zealand trailing by 60 runs with one wicket in hand at the end of day 2 of the 2nd Test in Hamilton.

The youngster playing in just his 4th test match proved yet again what a big impact raw pace can have when he reduced the strong Kiwi lineup from 81/0 to 89/4 in the space of 5 overs and then came back later on in the day to pick up his maiden 5 wicket haul.

Until Chameera was brought on in the 20th over of the Kiwi innings, things had all gone New Zealand’s way. Resuming on 264/7 with only Skipper Angelo Mathews standing between the visitors being skittled out early, Sri Lanka struggled to get the scoreboard moving. Mathews is usually a genius when it comes to batting with the less than desirable tail Sri Lanka possess and he managed to bring up his 4000th test run but fell within the first half hour of play. Tim Southee bowled from wide of his crease to get Mathews to play a tentative defensive shot and had him caught at 3rd slip by a diving Tom Latham. The Lankan tail managed to survive just about half an hour after Mathews’ dismissal and were ultimately bundled out for 292 – having added just 28 runs to their overnight score in just over 13 overs. The Kiwi bowlers kept their lines tighter than they had at the beginning of the match and their discipline paid off with Southee, Neil Wagner and Doug Bracewell picking up the three wickets to fall.

Sri Lanka’s bowling did not begin well either with Angelo Mathews yet again taking the new ball alongside Suranga Lakmal. Things were looking ominous for Sri Lanka once again as Martin Guptill and Tom Latham put on 61 runs in the 20 overs they faced prior to the lunch break.

Chameera was brought in immediately after lunch and went for 13 runs in his 1st over: Guptill carving him for two boundaries over point. Chameera put in a short leg and leg gully for the left hander Latham in the next over and was immediately rewarded when he glanced the ball straight to Dimuth Karunaratne at leg gully. After ducking under two short deliveries by Chameera, Kane Williamson lost patience and played the pull shot only to have it fall neatly into the hands of a waiting Lakmal at deep square leg.

Guptill looked steady at the other end helping the ball off his pads to bring up his 14th test fifty, but Rangana Herath’s tight bowling paid off when he had Guptill swinging wildly and edging the ball to slip. Things only got worse for the Kiwis when Chameera bowled an excellent delivery to have Ross Taylor fending the ball to the keeper. Another short ball, another wicket! At this point, Chameera had bowled 4 overs and picked up 3 wickets for 15 runs, game on!

Brendon McCullum played an uncharacteristically placid innings but he and Mitchell Santner put on 39 runs to bring the Kiwis to relative safety. However Herath had McCullum out LBW to swing the game in Sri Lanka’s favour once again. The match was evenly poised when the teams went in for the tea break with New Zealand on 133/5.

What characterized Sri Lanka’s day was some strange tactics by Skipper Mathews who kept Chameera out of the attack for close to 3 and half hours between spells. Mathews’ tactics confused many as not only did he keep Chameera out of the attack for an extended period of time but also strangely did not use Milinda Siriwardene, who many consider to be a more than useful bowler, at all. Furthermore he persisted with himself and Lakmal early in the post tea session despite appearing unthreatening to the batsmen at the crease, BJ Watling and Santner who looked to be getting a feel of the pitch.

Nuwan Pradeep finally got the breakthrough when he got Santner to knick behind to Dinesh Chandimal and might have had Bracewell caught down the legside immediately after: The Sri Lankans failed to put up a convincing appeal but Snicko showed that Bracewell had got some bat on the ball that was caught behind by the keeper.

Chameera was brought back into the attack in the 69th over of the innings and suddenly things began to happen on both sides of the wicket. Lakmal suddenly looked like he was getting some movement off the pitch and had Watling playing at a wide half volley that was very well taken by a diving Kithruwan Vithanage at gully. New Zealand’s tail enders did not look like they would duck under the ball and Chameera had Southee caught at deep fine leg soon enough. Bracewell and Wagner put on a spirited fight back to reduce the deficit 60 runs. Wagner in particular seemed to play the short ball well and smashed Chameera for a huge six and a couple of boundaries in the 77th over of the innings. Chameera had the last laugh in the final over of the day though when Wagner played one of the rare full deliveries on offer to short extra cover, giving the pacie his maiden 5 wicket haul.

Nobody knows why Mathews held back Chameera for the 1st 20 overs or the 21 overs after tea and whether Sri Lanka would have been able to get New Zealand out earlier is up for speculation. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka will have to come out tomorrow and pick up the last wicket early if they are to secure a substantial lead and put some pressure on the hosts in this game.