Sleepy draw in Colombo

The inmates of the nearby Welikada Prison, given day release during the Test match to man the pitch covers, may have sung and danced their way through their last afternoon of freedom, but for the others present at the P Saravanamuttu Oval there was nothing exciting about the way this opening Test meandered slowly towards an inevitable and dreary draw.

A soporific last day briefly burst into action before lunch as Daniel Vettori snared three wickets in five balls to bowl out Sri Lanka for 483, and again later in the afternoon as Sri Lanka's spinners weaved their way through the New Zealand middle order - but the result was never in doubt.

Sri Lankan optimists hoped for a Muttiah Muralitharan-inspired collapse after Sri Lanka conceded a slender 32-run first-innings deficit, but Stephen Fleming carried on from where he left off in the first innings, keeping Sri Lanka's spinners at bay and anchoring New Zealand's top order, snuffing out any chance of some late evening entertainment.

A weary Fleming spent all but 44 minutes of the five days play on the field, showing remarkable stamina in the enervating heat and sapping humidity. Fleming's unbeaten 69 extended his match aggregate to 343, a New Zealand record, surpassing the 329 runs scored by Martin Crowe against Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1990-91.

No one would have been more pleased when, with another thunderstorm threatening - which ominously rolled down from the hill-country, where the second Test is due to start on Saturday - the umpires called off play with New Zealand on 161 for 5.

Not everything went to plan for New Zealand after they wrapped up the Sri Lanka innings in the first hour. They started well enough, with Matthew Horne and Fleming, who opened in place of the injured Mark Richardson, adding 71 for the first wicket. But they then lost five wickets for 62 runs in the afternoon.

Kaushal Lokuarachchi, who gathered valuable experience during an extended bowl, broke through, trapping Horne leg-before with a well-flighted legbreak that dipped in the air and straightened sufficiently to beat an attempted sweep. Horne, who had earlier provided one of the highlights of the day with a swatted six off Chaminda Vaas, had scored 42 (71 for 1).

Mathew Sinclair was snapped up soon after by Tillakaratne Dilshan at bat-pad off Muralitharan before Lokuarachchi won his second lbw decision against Scott Styris, ending a 32-run stand for the third wicket (108 for 3).

After tea, Muralitharan continued to wheel away, picking the wickets of Jacob Oram and Robbie Hart to finish with 3 for 41 from 30 overs. Oram was well-caught off a thick edge by Romesh Kaluwitharana, and Robbie Hart was caught at forward short leg for a duck (133 for five).

Richardson, who would surely have preferred to rest his injured hamstring, put a stop to the middle-order slide; batting out the remaining 11 overs to the close with Fleming.

Earlier Sri Lanka, 424 for 6 when play was abandoned last night, added 59 runs for the loss of their last four wickets in the 17 overs bowled in the first hour.

Hashan Tillakaratne was the first to be dismissed, chopping a delivery from Shane Bond onto his stumps as he aimed a tired dab to third man (444 for 7). He had scored 144 from 314 balls, hitting 24 boundaries in an innings that had started on the third afternoon.

Lokuarachchi began his Test batting career with an entertaining cameo, sweeping the offspin of Paul Wiseman for a six and a four as he stroked 28 from 29 balls. Then Vettori finished the innings in a hurry, winning three leg-before decisions in an over.