New Zealand 373 and 28 for 1 (Latham 11*, Williamson 7*, Rajitha 1-5) want one other 257 runs to beat Sri Lanka 355 and 302 (Mathews 115, Tickner 4-100, Henry 3-71)
However in any other case, neither facet gave an inch away, with Mathews sharing partnerships of 105 and 60 with Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva, respectively, within the course of dragging Sri Lanka again into place of relative power within the face of relentless probing from New Zealand’s seamers.
Sri Lanka although continued to slog, and it might take till shortly after the tea interval for Mathews to lastly fall. One other size ball exterior off, shaping away, analyzing Mathews’ persistence, which for as soon as would fail him, noticed him nick one via to the wicketkeeper. His 115 got here off 235 balls, however by the point he fell, Sri Lanka’s lead had grown to 233.
And because it turned out, Mathews’ wicket sparked a collapse for Sri Lanka, who misplaced 4 for 42 to fold for 302. Nonetheless, de Silva remained unbeaten on 47, including 22 for the eighth wicket with Kasun Rajitha, whereas accumulating essential runs for his facet, as Sri Lanka ensured New Zealand have been left with a difficult chase however.
And when the hosts got here out to bat, the Sri Lankan bowlers did their half, utilising the early swing in addition to some variable bounce on provide to hassle each Tom Latham and Devon Conway. The latter even fell earlier than the shut of play, chipping a return catch to Rajitha after one reared up off a superb size. Latham and Kane Williamson held fort until the shut, content material to see proceedings via to the tip of play.
