Sri Lanka’s Dominating Innings Victory in the 2nd Test Power to Series Sweep Against New Zealand
Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand with an innings and 154 runs to seal the victory in the second Test at Galle.
Even though New Zealand’s middle order struggled on the fourth day, their dismal first-innings performance proved to be too much for them to overcome, and they lost the innings.
Key Performances and Match Results
Sri Lanka 602 for 5 dec (Kamindu 182, Chandimal 116, Kusal 106*, Mathews 88, Phillips 3-141) beat New Zealand 88 (Jayasuriya 6-42, Peiris 3-33) and 360 (Phillips 78, Santner 67, Conway 61, Blundell 60, Peiris 6-170, Jayasuriya 3-139) by an innings and 154 runs.
Match Analysis
On the fourth day, New Zealand batted first, with overnight scorers Glenn Phillips and Tom Blundell reaching half century, and then Mitchell Santner hitting 67, batting in part with the tail. However, this struggle did not offer any realistic chance of avoiding even an innings loss; rather, it merely highlighted their terrible 88 in the opening innings.
After 40.4 overs on day four, they eventually lost their last wicket, Santner, and were still 154 runs behind Sri Lanka. The hosts had played one batting game.
It was Sri Lanka’s third consecutive victory in a Test match. They now have four games left in their World Test Championship cycle and are vying for one of the remaining two positions, but in order to improve their chances, they also need other results to go their way.
Though pricey as New Zealand’s batsmen went after him, debutant offspinner Nishan Peiris’ six wicket haul will also cheer Sri Lanka. He took 6 for 170 in the second dig and concluded with numbers of 9 for 203 in the match.
On the fourth day, Peiris dismissed all three of the half-centurions. Blundell was out on the third over of the morning after being hit in front of the stumps after failing to reverse sweep, which he was attempting for the second time in a row after nailing the first for four.
Subsequently, Phillips tried to propel Peiris across the straight barrier, but soon discovered Dimuth Karunaratne. The final New Zealand wicket to go came after noon when Peiris had Santner stumped after the batsman had let his rear foot slip out of the crease.
Between, Ajaz Patel and Tim Southee had been bowled by Prabath Jayasuriya, the latter with a wicked ball that bounced back at Ajaz from the rough. In the end, he scored 9 out of 181 in the game.
But the two best batsmen for New Zealand on day four were Phillips and Santner. Playing off the surface and getting on the back foot as much as possible was Phillips’ primary tactic. This often proved effective as it gave him the ability to latch onto deliveries that were even somewhat short and forced bowlers to go fuller to him, creating chances for scoring below the line. After reaching his fifty runs off of 66 balls, he and Santner engaged in a 64-run seventh-wicket stand, which came after a 95-run stand that he had with Blundell.
While Santner did not take the same initiative as Phillips, he nevertheless saw benefits from the offside. Every now and again he would dance down the track, trying to catch Peiris specifically in the ground. In this manner, he hit two sixes and a four, and just after noon, he reached his fifty-seventh run off the 97th ball he faced. On the third delivery of Sri Lanka’s second new ball, he was out.
