Stumps New Zealand 88 (Santner 29, Jayasuriya 6-42, Peiris 3-33) and 199 for 5 (Conway 61, Blundell 47*, Phillips 32*, Peiris 3-91) trail Sri Lanka 602 for 5 dec by 315 runs
Blundell (47*) and Phillips (32*) added an undefeated 78 off just 84 balls for the sixth wicket, pumping two sixes each on the way. They had joined hands just before tea – Peiris had cleaned Rachin Ravindra up with a beautiful delivery turning away – and took the attacking route three overs into the final session.
Blundell launched Peiris for two big sixes in the 33rd over, both times by stepping out and going down the ground.
Phillips, meanwhile, ticked along at the other end with regular singles and twos, looking assured at the crease against both left-arm spin and offspin. He belted Peiris for a six over long-on in the 37th over and Blundell decided to keep counterpunching with successive fours over Jayasuriya’s head in the 38th. That brought up the fifty stand in 62 balls.
Blundell reverse swept Peiris for four, and Phillips launched another six down the ground in what turned out to be the final over of the day. Eventually, though, New Zealand were still 315 runs behind Sri Lanka.
Conway had hit back at Sri Lanka with plenty of attacking shots in the afternoon session. He smashed 61 at just short of a run a ball, in what his first Test half-century in 11 innings since March 2023. He hit ten boundaries and a six during his knock, and employed both sweeps – the conventional and the reverse – against the spinners, and earned the rewards too. Of those 19 shots, he got 33 runs, including six boundaries.
But Conway’s innings ended when he looked to loft Dhananjaya over extra cover, as Dinesh Chandimal, who was stationed there, turned around, ran, and grabbed the ball as it dropped over his shoulders. By then, Williamson had chugged along steadily, keeping himself busy running between the wickets, and by hitting the occasional boundary.
Peiris removed Williamson on 46 in the 23rd over, courtesy another well-judged catch. Ramesh Mendis, the substitute fielder, whom Peiris replaced in this Test, was placed at long-on, and had to keep his eyes on the ball for a long time but moved calmly to his right to take it with a reverse cup.
Soon after, New Zealand also lost Daryl Mitchell, who chipped one off Jayasuriya to an alert Pathum Nissanka at short leg, and Ravindra. But Blundell and Phillips’s partnership, along with the weather, took the game into the fourth day, a prospect that seemed unlikely when Jayasuriya and Peiris ran through New Zealand’s line-up in the morning.
The two spinners combined to rattle New Zealand, who had started the day at 22 for 2 in their first innings. Dhananjaya finished with five catches – all of them off the spinners – as the hosts had a bash on a bright, sunny morning. A bit of rough was visible outside the batters’ stumps even on the second evening, with the ball turning and assisting the spinners already; and whatever New Zealand’s batters did on the third morning didn’t work.
Williamson and Ajaz Patel were out defending, Ravindra was bowled trying to play the lap sweep. Blundell punched hard off the back foot but Dhananjaya took a sharp catch at slip. Phillips flayed, Mitchell slogged, and Tim Southee pushed at the ball; but no matter what they did, all of them lost their wickets. New Zealand lost 7 for 47 after being 41 for 3 at one stage, and got near three figures because of the resistance provided by Mitchell Santner, who scored 29. In the end, Williamson even ended up batting across two innings within the morning session.
But it was Williamson and Conway in the afternoon, and then Blundell and Phillips in the evening, who ensured Sri Lanka didn’t have it as easy in the second outing.
Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
