Sri Lanka chooses two following a Southee fifer

After the openers had given New Zealand a strong start, Sri Lanka struck twice in the closing moments of the second session to pull New Zealand back.

On Day 2 of the first Test, which was played at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Friday, the hosts headed to tea at 70 for 2 after bowling Sri Lanka out for 355 earlier.

The Sri Lanka pacers let Tom Latham and Devon Conway get off to a steady start by not playing as much in probing routes and giving up the advantage with the new ball. Without having to take too many chances, the pair were able to secure their fair share of loose deliveries.

There were a few leg-before appeals and sporadic deliveries that beat the bat, but nothing that troubled the batters. Following the beverages break, the scoring rate dramatically decreased.

Devon Conway was caught leg-before for 30 when Asitha Fernando, who was more precise with his lines, finally gave Sri Lanka their first breakthrough of the day. Kane Williamson produced an uppish drive to a half volley off Lahiru Kumara and was caught at short cover for one dismissal.

Tim Southee and Matt Henry both took two wickets earlier in the day to end Sri Lanka’s batting in the morning session alone, leaving the guests to only add 50 runs to their overnight total.

Dhananjaya de Silva and Kasun Rajitha, the overnight batsmen, got things underway by launching their first day’s deliveries for boundaries in the first over alone. However, Southee ended Dhananjaya’s tenure in the following over on 46. His attempted cut gave the goalie the outside edge.

Henry subsequently joined the action and finished the innings with four wickets. Rajitha ended his useful innings on 22 in the second over after the new ball was taken, getting a leading edge to Kane Williamson at extra cover. Prabath Jayasuriya was expelled for prodding a delivery that was being made outside to the keeper.

With their bats, Asitha Fernando and Kumara made some wild swings and even hit three boundaries. The innings would eventually have to end, though, it was just a matter of time. The former was caught legbefore after being undone by a full delivery from Southee, but not before they had scored 19 runs together for the final wicket.

Quick Scores: Tim Southee 5-64, Matt Henry 4-80, Kusal Mendis 87, Dimuth Karunaratne 50, Sri Lanka 355 lead New Zealand 70/2 (Tom Latham 35*) by 285 runs.