Sri Lanka has a game at hand
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Kane Williamson (Bottom) of New Zealand walks from the field after being bowled by Dushmantha Chameera of Sri Lanka during day four of the first International Test cricket match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Dunedin at University Oval on December 13, 2015. AFP
Chameera, who took three top-order wickets in the space of 13 balls after lunch, was aided by Captain Angelo Mathews’ tactics, where he packed the leg side with fielders and dared New Zealand’s batsmen to take them on. Strangely, the hosts did, despite it being apparent what the Sri Lankans were planning.
At one stage, Mathews had a forward short leg, a square leg and deep forward square standing virtually in a straight line from the wicket to the boundary waiting for a lofted shot from Neil Wagner. While Wagner did not succumb at the time — he hit Chameera for two fours and a six in one over with the fielders hovering — the tactic did work earlier, with Tom Latham, Kane Williamson and Tim Southee all falling to the leg side trap.
Chameera also had Ross Taylor caught behind for a duck as the batsman tried to fend off a short-pitched ball that was angled across him. “We got as good as what we gave,” New Zealand opener Martin Guptill, who had raced to 81 without loss with Latham before Chameera struck, told Radio Sport.
“There was a period after lunch where it just went away from us and they made it uncomfortable for us.“It was a tough little period for a while.” Chameera, who topped out at more than 146kph, was not the only bowler to adhere to the short-pitched game plan with Nuwan Pradeep having Brendon McCullum caught at fine leg for 17 off a top-edged hook.The New Zealand captain only survived because Pradeep had overstepped, though he fell just one run later when he was caught in close by Kusal Mendis off Rangana Herath.
Despite being nine down at the close, Guptill was confident his side were still in the game and that Doug Bracewell (30 not out) and Trent Boult could eat into the lead early on the third day before they get the ball back.
“I think Dougy has shown us some very good fight there in the number eight position and … hopefully Boulty can stick around and Dougy can have some fun,” he said. “We just have to come out tomorrow and get as many runs as possible, then bowl well (and)… we could get them four (wickets) for not many in the morning.
“Cricket is a funny game.”
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka 1st innings (Overnight: 264-7)
D. Karunaratne c Watling b Southee 12
K. Mendis c Watling b Southee 31
U. Jayasundera run out (Santner, Watling) 26
D. Chandimal c Watling b Bracewell 47
A. Mathews c Latham b Southee 77
M. Siriwardena c Taylor b Boult 62
K. Vithanage c B. McCullum b Boult 0
R. Herath run out (Williamson) 4
D. Chameera c B. McCullum b Bracewell 4
S. Lakmal c Williamson b Wagner 4
N. Pradeep not out 2
Extras (lb-11 w-12) 23
Total (all out, 80.1 overs) 292
Fall of wickets: 1-39 D. Karunaratne,2-44 K. Mendis,
3-115 U. Jayasundera,4-121 D. Chandimal,5-259 M. Siriwardana,6-259 K. Vithanage,7-264 R. Herath,8-284 A. Mathews,9-288 S. Lakmal,10-292 D. Chameera
Bowling: T. Boult 20-2-51-2,T. Southee 21-5-63-3(w-1),D. Bracewell 22.1-4-81-2(w-1), N. Wagner 9-1-51-1(w-2) M. Santner 7-0-34-0,K. Williamson 1-0-1-0
New Zealand 1st innings
M. Guptill c Mathews b Herath 50
T. Latham c Karunaratne b Chameera 28
K. Williamson c Lakmal b Chameera 1
R. Taylor c Chandimal b Chameera 0
B. McCullum c K. Mendis b Herath 18
M. Santner c Chandimal b Pradeep 38
B. Watling c Vithanage b Lakmal 28
D. Bracewell not out 30
T. Southee c Jayasundera b Chameera 4
N. Wagner c Vithanage b Chameera 17
Extras (lb-3 nb-7 w-8) 18
Total (for 9 wickets, 78.4 overs) 232
Fall of wickets: 1-81 T. Latham,2-83 K. Williamson,
3-86 M. Guptill,4-89 R. Taylor,5-128 B. McCullum,
6-168 M. Santner,7-196 B. Watling,8-201 T. Southee,
9-232 N. Wagner
To bat: T. Boult
Bowling: S. Lakmal 16-4-48-1(nb-1 w-1) A. Mathews 11-7-25-0 N. Pradeep 17-4-34-1(nb-5 w-1) R. Herath 22-1-75 -2 D. Chameera 12.4-3-47-5(nb-1 w-2)