Infectious poor shots

Martin Guptill missed a straight one that clattered into his stumps in Galle, and his misjudgement - which seems an embarrassing one for international cricketers to be making - appears to be contagious among the openers in this series. Tim Southee angled one in to Tillakaratne Dilshan in his second over, and Dilshan left a huge gap in between bat and pad as he played a leaden-footed defensive stroke, and the ball went on to hit middle and leg, despite not having moved in the air or off the seam.

The practice of taking a fielder's word on a contentious catch is now archaic, but batsmen do generally accept their dismissal when they have been bowled. But not, seemingly, Kruger van Wyk. Dilshan bowled one full and flat and van Wyk failed to get his bat down in time, and although the ball hit off stump almost dead on, removing the bail, van Wyk chose to stand his ground. The umpires asked for a video referral, which confirmed what the Sri Lanka team already knew, and only then was van Wyk content that he had been bowled.

Fielding coaches may want to get a replay of Kane Williamson's second boundary of the day, as in one ball, it showcases fielding commitment at its best and its worst. Williamson pulled Nuwan Kulasekara behind square leg, and Suraj Randiv who was fielding at deep midwicket was after it in a flash. He had a lot of ground to make up and he put in a dive in an attempt to reach it, but the ball still evaded him by a good metre. Shaminda Eranga meanwhile, had a shorter distance to go from fine leg, and though he easily covered the ground, he attempted to stop the ball with his boot rather than bending down to pick it up, and ended up deflecting it onto the rope.

The back end of a New Zealand innings is far less rewarding for spectators when Chris Martin is not playing, but No. 11 Trent Boult produced a decent impression, when he became Rangana Herath's sixth victim. Both Southee and Jeetan Patel had proved the pitch held no terrors when they survived 34 and 45 balls respectively but Boult decided to leave a length delivery that pitched in line with the stumps and straightened, and the ball predictably hit the top of middle and off. Batting incompetence even the Phantom might have cringed at.