Having said that, though, the New Zealand captain gave credit to Dimuth Karunaratne for a 'fantastic hundred' in the fourth innings

Sri Lanka's acting coach is wary of the fifth-day wicket but says there is belief as well from the team's successful chases in South Africa

A few months of his leadership appear, against all expectation, to have steadied the national team

Niroshan Dickwella, meanwhile, thinks any target under 225 will be achievable

He does things that are in essence truly remarkable, but does them with such banality that in the end they are barely remarked upon

Hanging in and playing the long game as Rangana Herath did helped him succeed in Galle, the New Zealand spinner said

Plenty of spinners, particularly those from Sri Lanka, have faded away after remodelling their actions. It's still early days, but Akila Dananjaya seems to be bucking that trend

Henry Nicholls has suggested that it was his and Ross Taylor's mental capacity to deal with balls that beat the bat that helped New Zealand recover from three quick wickets

The Sri Lanka captain, who expects a batting-friendly pitch in Galle, has warned his spinners of the dangers of 'attacking too much'

With most teams unashamed about preparing home tracks to maximise their strengths, a growing band of bowlers, globally, only feature in away Tests

In the right corner, a team that meticulously plans and steadily impresses. In the left, one with raging mood swings and an inclination to blow one's mind. Welcome to Sri Lanka v New Zealand

Each time he batted, he was playing for the idea that his team should reflect South Africa's diversity, but the burden never disturbed his serenity

The fans wanted to indulge him on his 29th birthday. The New Zealand captain ended up indulging fans instead

Both openers hit substantial fifties at rapid pace, while none of the New Zealand pacemen found success on the first day

Pressure mounts on Hathurusingha but he has a solid contract that runs up to end of 2020

The search for a new bowling spearhead following Lasith Malinga's retirement, however, could make the team sweat

In July in cricket, there was some intense loving, wooing and buck-passing

What's a World Cup tour writer's life like? All about recording podcasts in cemeteries and being mistaken for a taxi driver, of course

When the ball didn't swing, he leapt like superman to pluck catches, when it did, he prised out the world's best

New Zealand captain says key to their victory was in identifying 240-250, and not 300, as a competitive total