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
| 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 | |
