Dimuth Karunaratne raises his bat after making 50 against the Black Caps. Photo / Sri Lanka Cricket
Dimuth Karunaratne raises his bat after making 50 against the Black Caps. Photo / Sri Lanka Cricket
After a day in which almost everything went right for the Black Caps, the opposite threatened to sink their prospects in the first test against Sri Lanka.
The tourists stacked together their two worst sessions of the opening three days in Galle, falling from a position of command into one from which they would be fortunate to survive.
At 269-4, New Zealand trailed by 36, a significant lead in their sights. By day’s end, the deficit stood at 202, the hosts still holding six wickets.
The test now pauses for the Sri Lankan presidential election, with the home players travelling to their respective local electorates, some round trips to vote as long as 450km.
Yet their time on the bus will surely be more pleasant than the Black Caps’ on the beach.
There, Glenn Phillips and Daryl Mitchell will ruminate over a potentially decisive runout. The bowling attack – with the exception of Will O’Rourke (3-37) – will be questioning where can find more penetration.
And the whole touring squad will wonder whether this two-match series has already slipped away.
New Zealand have only once successfully chased more than 200 in Asia. It was against Bangladesh in 2008, when Daniel Vettori struck a second half-century to add to his nine wickets, and it was the last time the team won a test series on the subcontinent.
In Galle, there have been two such victories. One came when Pakistan racked up 344-6 in 2022, while the Black Caps would need no reminding of the other – when a toothless attack ceded 268-4 on their last trip to the ground in 2019.
Aside from O’Rourke, who could follow Mitchell Starc as the second seamer to take 10 wickets in Galle, the bowling today wasn’t much better.
Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal both hit half-centuries in a commanding 147-run partnership for the second wicket, playing initially with patience and then with intent as the pitch offered less turn than days previous.
The tourists will pray that still proves true on Sunday, the hands of Phillips and Mitchell clasped tighter than most.
Stripped of context, their mishap was an otherwise unremarkable runout.
Phillips’ punch to cover might have typically been a dot ball, but the allrounder plays cricket in one speed and an authoritative request for a run immediately followed.
Mitchell might still have been able to complete a risky single, but after two hours in the middle the batter was clearly caught off guard by his partner’s plea.
When added to a pinpoint throw from Ramesh Mendis that was matched by smart work behind the stumps from Kusal Mendis, that confluence of circumstances resulted in Mitchell (57) shaking his head while Phillips threw back his own.
On another day, the fielding was flawed and the batter survived. In another innings, the consequences were minimal and the moment forgotten.
Today, though, in this innings, that unremarkable runout sparked a critical collapse.
Sri Lanka celebrate a wicket on day three of the first test. Photo / Sri Lanka Cricket
Four wickets were lost while 13 runs were scored inside a span of four overs. An advantage was squandered. What had looked like a middle-order push towards a match-winning lead instead became a last-wicket scrap for parity.
Phillips (49 off 48) in fairness won that scrap through a combination of restraint and counter-punching when an opportunity presented, leading a 36-run stand to which O’Rourke contributed two. Watching in the pavilion, Mitchell would have been forgiven for withholding his applause.
But that earlier blunder was hardly alone when assigning blame for a first-innings lead of just 35.
The day began with the continuation of a promising partnership between Mitchell and Tom Blundell, one that grew to 73 before the wicketkeeper gloved a reverse-sweep to slip. Blundell now averages 11.5 from his last 15 test innings, a slump extending across 18 months that justifies a demotion from No 6 at least.
Mitchell Santner, without a wicket in the match, was unable to contribute with his bat, prodding an edge behind from his second ball.
And Tim Southee lasted a only few deliveries more before missing a cut and having his off stump disturbed, a third wicket of the morning emphasising why Prabath Jayasuriya was so fond of this ground.
