Published: Jan 07, 2015, 08:18 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 07, 2015, 12:48 PM (IST)
Jan 7, 2015
New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 193 runs in the second and final Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on Wednesday, completing a 2-0 series sweep in the process. Sri Lanka, chasing a target of 390 to win, were bowled out for a lowly 196 during the second session of the final day. Lahiru Thirimanne led the Sri Lankan fight single-handedly towards the end, scoring 62 runs off 144 deliveries. Among the New Zealand bowlers, Mark Craig was the most destructive, capturing four wickets for 53 runs.
The last two days of the final Test proved disastrous for the Lankans, failing to capture a single wicket on the fourth day while conceding 271 runs and putting up a shoddy batting performance on the last day. Sri Lanka resumed from their overnight score of 45 for one on the fifth day, with Kaushal Silva and nightwatchman Dhammika Prasad batting on scores of 20 and one respectively.
Prasad was quick in heading back to the pavilion, edging a rising delivery by Trent Boult to the slips where James Neesham collected the catch safely. Kumar Sangakkara‘s arrival at the crease brought a lot of hopes along with it, as his double-century was instrumental in saving Sri Lanka from an embarrassing collapse.
Sangakkara scored five runs before getting dismissed by Boult, getting caught by wicket-keeper BJ Watling. While the umpire turned the appeal down initially, Brendon McCullum managed to overturn the decision with a review. The dismissal though was a slightly controversial one as the replays did not support the bowlers due to the absence of a substantial sound in the snickometer or the lack of detection of an edge in the hotspot. Sangakkara though, headed back to the pavilion in a grumpy state as Sri Lanka lost their biggest hope of achieving a positive result in the game.
Silva reached his seventh Test half-century and added 33 runs for the fourth wicket, before edging a Doug Bracewell delivery to the slips for Craig to collect a safe catch. Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews was dismissed at the stroke of lunch in a manner that was similar to Silva, with Sri Lanka in the dire straits after losing their fifth wicket with just 110 runs on the board.
It went downhill for the visitors from that point onwards. Thirimanne resumed the Sri Lankan innings with Prasanna Jayawardene after lunch, and the two looked steady for a brief while as they patted a couple of deliveries towards the fence. Jayawardene however, fell victim to a shot that was risky to say the least in that situation, attempting to smash a delivery off Craig through the cover region, where Kane Williamson took a comfortable catch.
Dinesh Chandimal was the last recognised batsman to walk to the centre, and began to play with an extra mix of cautiousness. Chandimal, who had shared a vital 130-run partnership with Sangakkara in Sri Lanka’s first innings to rescue the tourists from a collapse, hit a couple of boundaries during his presence at the crease, with the thought of saving the match still on his mind.
The decision to introduce Craig in the 62nd over of the innings turned out to be decisive for the course of the match, as the off-spinner managed to remove both Chandimal and Rangana Herath off successive deliveries to push New Zealand to the edge of victory. Nuwan Pradeep was lucky to have survived the final ball of the over, though he was eventually bowled by Tim Southee to complete the formalities of the game.
The whitewash is bound to have a major impact for both sides. While the boost in confidence that New Zealand will get from the series win will be a major one, given the string of One-Day International (ODI) tournaments in store for the Kiwis, especially the World Cup, Sri Lanka will be left pondering over the disastrous results that they have produced in this tour. They were outplayed by the Black Caps in virtually every department, and have a lot of catching up to do both in terms of the performance as well as in their confidence levels before they head to the seven-match ODI series that follows the Tests.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 221 (Hamish Rutherford 37, Kane Williamson 69, Ross Taylor 35; Nuwan Pradeep 4 for 63, Suranga Lakmal 3 for 71) and 524 for 5 (Kane Williamson 195, BJ Watling 137*; Nuwan Pradeep 3 for 117) beat Sri Lanka 356 (Kumar Sangakkara 203, Dinesh Chandimal 67; Doug Bracewell 3 for 93) and 196 (Kaushal Silva 50, Lahiru Thirimanne 62*; Mark Craig 4 for 53; Doug Bracewell 2 for 25) by 193 runs.
Man of the Match: Kane Williamson.
