Samaraweera puts Sri Lanka in front
Having seen Thilan Samaraweera strike a magnificent 159 and take Sri Lanka to 452, New Zealand responded strongly in the final session
The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran
19-Aug-2009
New Zealand 87 for 2 (McIntosh 36*) trail Sri Lanka 452 (Samaraweera 159, Jayawardene 114, Martin 4-77, Vettori 4-78) by 365 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Having seen Thilan Samaraweera strike a magnificent 159 and take Sri Lanka to 452, New Zealand responded strongly in the final session, with Tim McIntosh leading the resistance to the twin-spin threat. The loss of
Daniel Flynn just before stumps changed the complexion somewhat, but New
Zealand still deserved plaudits for sticking to the task with the ball and
then showing real character with the bat. The star of the day though was
undoubtedly Samaraweera, who took more than half an hour to score his
first run of the day before racing from 100 to 150 in just 43 deliveries.
Morning rain meant a two-hour delay and a readjustment in the session
timings, and after a sedate first hour before lunch, when only 35 runs
were added and Mahela Jayawardene snaffled by Iain O'Brien, there was an
injection of excitement after the interval. Angelo Mathews flicked the
first ball after the interval for four and then paddle-swept four more,
but when New Zealand reeled off three successive maidens, the momentum
appeared to have been lost.
Samaraweera was marooned on 97 for a while, but the moment he struck a
gorgeous straight drive off Jeetan Patel to get to three figures, the mood
changed. In Patel's next over, he lofted over mid-on for four and six, and
then cut four more as the scoreboard started to race along. Daniel Vettori
was also taken over midwicket, and Patel repeatedly driven with deft
footwork. Mathews joined in with a heaved six off the hapless Patel and
though he departed soon after, edging a drive behind off Vettori,
Samaraweera continued to race along.
Prasanna Jayawardene went caught short at short leg off Vettori, but
either side of that, Samaraweera drove, cut and even steered to third man
off pace and spin alike. Having taken 223 balls for his century, he was
suddenly smacking the ball like a man having an extended net session. Soon
after, he came down the track to Vettori and found Patel at long-off,
departing after a 277-ball effort. Chris Martin and Vettori then wrapped
up the tail in a jiffy, as the last four wickets added just eight.
Fortune appeared to be on Sri Lanka's side early on when a thick outside
edge from Jayawardene off O'Brien flew between wicketkeeper and slip. New
Zealand's frustration quickly turned to joy though, when another delivery
in the corridor was almost guided off the edge to the right of Ross Taylor
at first slip. The new ball was taken almost as soon as it was due, and a
quiet phase followed, with Mathews finding his feet and Samaraweera taking
no chances.
The ball was then changed after having lost its shape, but it made no
difference, with Samaraweera lashing one behind point for four. A neat
clip through midwicket off Jesse Ryder took him to 96, but a tidy over
from Vettori ensured that he would have to contend with the nervous
nibbles at lunch. It was a different story thereafter.
The ball changes were a bizarre feature of the final session too, with
three used before New Zealand had played even 10 overs. The innings
started promisingly enough, with Martin Guptill clipping and pulling
leg-side fours off Nuwan Kulasekara. Ajantha Mendis was on as early as the
ninth over but it was Thilan Thushara that gave Kumar Sangakkara the
breakthrough. The ball had just been changed when Guptill played a superb
on-drive, but his attempt to find the square-leg boundary with a pull only
meant a ricochet on to the base of the stumps.
With Murali coming on soon after, runs were hard to come by, but as
McIntosh swept and drove Mendis for fours, New Zealand seemed to be
finishing the day the better. But Mendis came round the wicket to bowl
Flynn off the inner edge and with more rain forecast for the remaining
days, survival was New Zealand's first priority after an eventful day in
the shadow of the 400-year-old fort.
Dileep Premachandran is an associate editor at Cricinfo