KEY POINTS:
Chamara Silva made a surprising entry into test cricket's record books today and New Zealand will need to do likewise to prevent Sri Lanka squaring their two-match series with a crushing victory at the Basin Reserve.
Silva, whose test debut in Christchurch this month spanned just five balls, became the first player in the sport's storied history to follow up a pair of ducks with a century as Sri Lanka maintained an iron grip on the second test with two days remaining.
The right-hander showed little evidence of his ability at Jade Stadium, but emphatically erased any doubts held by others with an unbeaten 152 to enable the tourists to set New Zealand 504 to complete a 2-0 series victory.
Should New Zealand defy the combined threat of Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga they will have successfully mounted the biggest fourth innings runchase in test history.
But rather than eclipsing the West Indies 418 for seven against Australia at Antigua in May, 2003, New Zealand's primary goal appears to be weather-assisted survival.
Routed for just 130 in the first innings as Malinga and Muralitharan ran amok, New Zealand gave little cause for optimism after the dynamic duo had the home side in early trouble strife at 75 for two at stumps on the third day.
Malinga's round-arm, low slung deliveries were difficult to pick up on Friday and he again caused plenty of angst in fading light.
Opener Jamie How's nightmare continued when he tried to take evasive action and was struck at calf height by a 150km/h full toss -- the third occasion he has been trapped by Malinga in the series, and his fifth consecutive dismissal leg before wicket.
Craig Cumming was the other casualty when he snicked Muralitharan to wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara.
Mathew Sinclair, with 10, and captain Stephen Fleming, four, were at the crease when play was called off 12 overs before the scheduled close due to bad light.
Earlier, play was 40 minutes late starting due to overnight rain but Silva, who resumed on 79, and Prasanna Jayawardene managed to skim the ball over a moist outfield often enough to maintain a brisk scoring rate.
Silva, who started his road to redemption with 61 in the first innings, was again the aggressor and was not panicked once he reached the 90s as he took the shine off Shane Bond's new ball with consecutive boundaries to leave him one run short of his milestone.
He reached the landmark two balls later when an unconvincing inside edge squirted into no man's land, allowing him to sprint to the bowler's end before acknowledging his teammates.
Resuming at 225 for five, Silva and Jayawardene extended their stand for the sixth wicket to 94 before Jayawardene was caught by Stu Mills, one of five substitute fielders employed by the home side, after he mistimed a swipe off Chris Martin.
Jayawardene was never quite in control after being struck on the wrist by Bond and was later unable to keep wicket.
A sustained spell at the bowling crease by spinner Daniel Vettori helped temporarily lift the gloom for the home side after the Sri Lankan innings ended abruptly at 365.
After bowling just 12 balls in the first test and lamenting a lack of assistance on home pitches, Vettori completed his third 10-wicket haul in 73 tests by claiming seven for 130 off 42.3 overs.
Vettori, who took three for 53 in the first innings, ran through the tail to record his first five-wicket haul in 13 tests stretching back to Australia in Christchurch in March, 2005.
He took the final four wickets to fall -- including three in four balls -- to give the home side some consolation after Silva struck 20 boundaries in his 214-ball stay.
Vettori was on a hat-trick when removing Farveez Maharoof and Malinga leg before wicket but could not convince Australian umpire Simon Taufel to raise the finger again when Muralitharan padded up.
However, he had Muralitharan stumped off the next ball.
"It was a surprise to clean up the tail so quickly," Vettori said, adding New Zealand could still avoid defeat.
" Obviously the match situation isn't all that great but we've got a lot of confidence we can put together a performance.
"It's not a hard total in terms of run rate but the difficult thing is the wickets in hand and the time."
NZ V SRI LANKA SCOREBOARD
* Scoreboard after the third day of the second cricket test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve today:
Sri Lanka
First innings 268
New Zealand
First innings 130
Sri Lanka
Second innings (overnight 225-5)
U Tharanga lbw b Martin 20
S Jayasuriya c Fleming b Vettori 31
K Sangakkara c Franklin b Bond 8
M Jayawardene c Sinclair b Vettori 31
C Kapugedera b Vettori 27
C Silva not out 152
P Jayawardene c sub b Martin 37
C Vaas c McCullum b Vettori 47
F Maharoof lbw b Vettori 1
L Malinga lbw b Vettori 0
M Murailtharan st McCullum b Vettori 0
Extras (7lb, 4nb) 11
Total (109.3 overs) 365
Fall: 44 (Tharanga), 62 (Sangakkara), 62 (Jayasuriya), 100 (Kapugedera), 168 (M Jayawardene), 262 (P Jayawardene), 350 (Vaas), 356 (Maharoof), 365 (Malinga), 365 (Muralitharan).
Bowling: S Bond 19-3-67-1 (2nb), C Martin 23-1-98-2 (2nb), D Vettori 42.3-5-130-7, J Franklin 25-8-63-0.
New Zealand
Second innings
C Cumming c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 20
J How lbw b Malinga 33
M Sinclair not out 10
S Fleming not out 4
Extras (5b, 3nb) 8
Total (for 2 wkts, 22 overs) 75
Fall: 56 (How), 60 (Cumming).
Bowling: C Vaas 6-0-28-0, L Malinga 6-1-20-1, F Maharoof 5-1-17-0 (3nb), M Muralitharan 4-2-4-1, S Jayasuriya 1-0-1-0.
- NZPA
