Sri Lanka “PULL” themselves to defeat
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By Rahul Patil
New Zealand 1st innings 580/4 declared (Conway 78, Williamson 215, Nicholls 200*, Rajitha 2/126). Sri Lanka 1st innings 164 all out (Karunaratne 89, Henry 3/44, M Bracewell 3/50). Sri Lanka 2nd innings f/o 358 all out (Karunaratne 51, Mendis 50, Chandimal 62, de Silva 98, Southee 3/51, Tickner 3/83). New Zealand won by an innings and 58 runs
I missed the first eight days of this series as I was in Fiji doing commentary at a Pacific islands cricket tournament. Delighted to get behind the microphone but at the same time keeping a close eye on the proceedings in Christchurch and Wellington.
What a difference a couple of days make. On Saturday it was Albert Park in Suva. The temperature was 31 degrees (my weather app said it felt like 36) with about 80% humidity. The players wore colored clothes and the ball was white. The pitch was an artificial one and the grandstand was full of vocal supporters. T20 cricket was in its element.
On Monday it was the spiritual home of cricket in New Zealand, The Basin Reserve. The temperature was 17 degrees with strong northerlies. Gale gusting at 120km/h in exposed places. For half the day we had single end coverage on TV due to the high winds. Welcome to a normal day in Wellington. The players were wearing white and the ball was red. The pitch was the normal day four surface at the Basin. Great for batting. The ground was pretty much empty though. The start of a new working week in the capital. Also a reflection of the state of the game. Only 1 result looking possible. After the thrilling finishes against England and Sri Lanka test cricket had earned the right to throw a one sided contest our way.
Until the final delivery at the Hagley Oval last week Sri Lanka were in with a chance of making it to the WTC finals. You don’t get into positions like that without showing some grit. At some stage in this test match it was expected that they would stand up. They chose to do so on day four.
A day four Basin wicket is still great for batting. Think McCullum & Watling, Williamson and Blundell etc. A Sri Lanka fightback after following on therefore was still a possibility. Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva (DDS) for a session showed us just how easy batting was. They put on 126 in 181 balls for the 5th wicket. While that partnership lasted there was a glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe we might get a third test match in a row that goes down to the wire on day five.
The pull shot is defined as an attacking stroke to a delivery which pitches on a short length. It is a tough shot to play but when its executed properly its very effective. For a number of years, the Blackcaps and Neil Wagner in particular have trapped many a visiting batters through persistent short bowling and inducing a false pull or hook shot. Wagner isn’t playing this test but Southee, Henry and Tickner in particular have time and again tested the Sri Lankan’s with Wagnerisms. Six of the top eight wickets in the 2nd innings fell to badly executed pull shots.
When you average 61.61 in first class cricket after playing 38 matches with 11 centuries including a triple hundred it means you can definitely bat. Debutant Nishan Madushka then combined with DDS to put on 76 for the sixth wicket. A brain fade just before the tea break via another mistimed pull shot ended what could have been a memorable debut.
A DDS innings is always easy on the eye. His name comes up regularly in discussions about players who are elegant to watch. In getting to 98 he showed us just why. The drives were smooth, the cuts were crisp, the punches were powerful and the pulling was strong. Madushka’s brain fade before tea must have somehow made its way to DDS during the tea break as two runs away from a well-deserved hundred he decided to try and paddle scoop off spinner Bracewell only to get a bottom edge to be caught by forward short leg.
To their credit the last three wickets showed great resistance which is quite rare these days in international test cricket. Unless you have Axar Patel batting at #9 of course. Collectively numbers 8, 9, 10 and 11 batted 215 deliveries for 29 runs. It showed how easy batting was and how hard the blackcaps had to work for every wicket.
After three consecutive drawn test series against Bangladesh, South Africa and England New Zealand finally won a home test series, their first since beating Pakistan in January 2021. The celebrations by the wicket keeper and the bowling attack might be restricted to only inside the limo tonight. You’d have to be extremely brave to get out of one up Mt Vic in this wind.
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