Pacemen cause trouble for Sri Lanka
Ranjan ANANDAPPA
New Zealand pacemen Tim Southee and Trent Boult caused a sensation by
sending Tillekeratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and skipper Mahela
Jayawardene in quick succession to the dressing room for 12 runs after
they piled up 412 runs to insert the pressure on the home team on the
second day of the second cricket Test at the P. Sara Oval yesterday.
The Kiwi opening bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult bowled with a
lot of fire extracting life from the pitch where the Sri Lankans only
found placidity. Southee in his second over found the gap between
Dilshan's bat and pad to rattle his stumps, in the same over Sangakkara
coming in at number three with the dismissal of Dilshan was forced to
pull one to deep square leg into the waiting hands of Trent Boult.
Boult accounted for all three dismissals when he made the inform Sri
Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene to edge one into the slips for Kane
Williamson to hold on to the catch and it was left to Tharanga
Paranvithana and Angelo Mathews to bat till the premature end due to bad
light with seven overs to be bowled for the day. Sri Lanka still needs
213 runs to avert the follow on. Sri Lanka were 43 for 3 with Tharanga
Paranavithana 9 n.o and Angelo Mathews 20 n.o in reply to New Zealand's
412.
Sri Lanka began the second day needing an early break through, with
the new ball only five balls old. The new ball was taken after the
completion of 80 overs late on the first day with the Kiwi Kane
Williamson (95 n.o) and Ross Taylor (119 n.o) in complete command.
But Kulasekera bowled only five deliveries that evening with it when
the rains drove the players in to the comfort of the dressing room. In
the morning of the second day, the new ball although Kulasekera and
Eranda had the ability to swing it, did nothing to separate the third
wicket pair despite the freshness of the pitch. Both batsmen played and
missed as the two medium pacers ran out of luck.
Taylor and Williamson added 53 runs in the morning and it took 19
overs in the pre-lunch session for the Lankans to get the much needed
break through. Taylor while going for the sweep shot was judged lbw off
the hard working Herath after scoring 142 facing 306 deliveries with 11
fours. Taylor went on to make his second highest score in Test cricket,
the first being 157 against England in 2008 at Manchester.
Taylor and Williamson added 262 runs off 579 balls for the third
wicket. It is strange how often, when one man goes in a big partnership
the other soon follows and Williamson after adding 14 runs to the total
suffered the same fate as his skipper, judged lbw off Herath for 135
after facing 305 deliveries with twelve hits to the pickets.
It was Williamson's third ton and the second scored in the
sub-continent including a debut hundred in India. The partnership had
certainly brought the New Zealanders towards some respectability
bringing the score from 2 for 14 to 3 for 276. With the exit of
Williamson the Kiwis lost their way for a while losing wicket keeper
Krugger Van Wyke when Dilshan got one to creep through to shutter his
stumps and debutant Todd Astle being the third lbw victim of Herath.
Doug Bracewell joined by Daniel Flynn added valuable 46 runs for the
seventh wicket. Bardwell showing signs of aggression after striking 24
off 37 deliveries with a couple boundaries pulled one over mid wicket
and Herath took a well judged catch close to the mid wicket boundary.
Herath then accounted for Tim Southee bowled going for a sweep. But that
was not the end for New Zealand, Daniel Flynn who replaced Taylor in the
morning was doing an admirable job for his side He dug himself with some
support coming from Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee and later Jeetan Patel
and assured the Kiwis reach the 400 run mark.
Flynn reached his 50 at tea off 129 deliveries with three boundaries
with support coming from Patel 25 n.o. Finally Flynn was another lbw
victim of Herath for 53 facing 135 deliveries with three boundaries and
the Kiwis reached their final destination of 412 just after tea.
Sri Lanka's bowling strength like in the previous Test in Galle was
largely concentrated in the spin bowling of Rangana Herath who took 6
for 103 in 49 overs.
New Zealand
1st innings
(overnight 223-2):
M. Guptill c Mathews b Kulasekara 4
B. McCullum lbw b Eranga 4
K. Williamson lbw b Herath 135
R. Taylor lbw b Herath 142
D. Flynn lbw b Herath 53
K. van Wyk b Dilshan 0
T. Astle lbw b Herath 3
D. Bracewell c Herath b Randiv 24
T. Southee b Herath 15
J. Patel not out 25
T. Boult b Herath 1
Extras (b2, lb2, nb2) 6
Total (for all out; 153 overs) 412
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Guptill), 2-14 (McCullum), 3-276 (Taylor), 4-290 (Williamson),
5-291 (van Wyk), 6-300 (Astle), 7-346 (Bracewell), 8-374 (Southee), 9-410 (Flynn), 10-412 (Boult).
Bowling: Kulasekara 24-2-76-1 (nb2), Eranga 22-0-91-1, Mathews 10-1-25-0,
Herath 49-10-103-6, Randiv 39-3-94-1, Dilshan 9-2-19-1.
Sri Lanka
1st innings:
T. Paranavitana not out 9
T. Dilshan b Southee 5
K. Sangakkara c Boult b Southee 0
M. Jayawardene c Williamson b Boult 4
A. Mathews not out 20
Extras (lb3, nb1, w1) 5
Total (for three wickets; 17 overs) 43
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Dilshan), 2-7 (Sangakkara), 3-12 (M. Jayawardene).
Bowling: Southee 6-2-16-2, Boult 6-1-16-1 (nb1, w1), Patel 3-2-2-0, Astle 2-0-6-0. |
