In the first Test against Sri Lanka, New Zealand won by 2 wickets in a last ball “thrill”.
The team then took the lead in the 2-match Test series. Sri Lanka had a chance to overtake India and advance to the final of the World Test Championship if they won the series, but now it has been lost.
New Zealand won the toss and chose to field in this match which started on the 9th over. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 355 runs in 92.4 overs in their first innings. Kusal Mendis scored 87 runs and Tim Sethi took 5 wickets.
New Zealand were then bowled out for 373 in 107.3 overs for the loss of 10 wickets. Daryl Mitchell added 102 runs and Ashita Fernando took 4 wickets. After that, Sri Lanka, who played the 2nd innings while trailing by 18 runs, were bowled out for 302 runs in 105.3 overs. Angelo Mathews scored 115 runs. Blair Tickner took 4 wickets.
Finally, chasing a target of 285 runs, New Zealand won by 285 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 70 overs. Kane Williamson scored 121 runs and Ashita Fernando took 3 wickets.
Last minute excitement…: New Zealand needed 257 runs for 9 wickets in 53 overs to win the last day’s match on Monday. Tom Latham and Kane Williamson continue the game.
Earlier, the first two sessions could not be played due to rain. To make it difficult to score in the extra session, the New Zealand batsmen, including Williamson, started playing the Test match like a T20.
Williamson and Daryl Mitchell combined for the 4th wicket and added 142 runs to turn the team to victory. Mitchell was bowled out for 81, eventually needing 8 runs off the last over. Matt Henry fell as the 8th wicket.
Needing 5 runs to win, Neil Wagner, who was ruled out of the game due to a back injury, returned to the field to support Williamson. Needing 1 off the last ball, Williamson runs between the wickets despite missing the ball.
As he was run out, the video umpire gave ‘not out’. New Zealand won.