New Zealand and Sri Lanka are fighting a crucial Test Series for World Test Championship Finals. Sri Lanka has an outside chance if they can beat New Zealand by 2-0. New Zealand did not lose a Test Series at home from quite sometime. But they found themselves reeling behind Sri Lanka in the first innings. Sri Lanka scored 355 in 92.4 overs.
New Zealand in reply are reeling at 162/5. Tom Latham (67), Daryl Mitchell (40) did well with the bat. Daryl Mitchell is still at the crease. Devon Conway (30) got a start but failed. Kane Williamson (1), Henry Nicholls (2), Tom Blundell (7) failed to score against Sri Lanka bowlers. Asitha Fernando (2/42), Lahiru Kumara (2/34), Kasun Rajitha (1/38) did well among the Sri Lanka bowlers.
Tim Southee (5/64) got his 15th Test 5-for for New Zealand. Matt Henry (4/80) and Michael Bracewell (1/17) got wickets too. Sri Lanka could not kick-on to score 400 in the first innings. Dhananjaya de Silva (46) failed to score 50 and Kasun Rajitha (22), Prabath Jayasuriya (13), Lahiru Kumara (13), Asitha Fernando (10) helped Sri Lanka cross 350 mark. New Zealand needs their lower order and Daryl Mitchell to score big to bring themselves back into the game. Sri Lanka is showing more promise than many anticipated from them.
India start off on a positive note against Australia!
