2024-09-22 12:17:28
Published: 20:04, 19 September 2024
New Zealand ended the second day of the Galle Test on Thursday (September 19) from a 50-run deficit in the first innings. In reply to Sri Lanka’s 305 runs, New Zealand scored 255 for 4. Today they responded to Tom Latham and Kane Williamson’s fifties. After a good start, Rachin Ravindra could not extend the innings. Darl Mitchell and Tom Blundell are now the team’s stalwarts. Mitchell finished the day unbeaten on 41 and Blundell on 18.
Then, of course, there are Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Sterner. They are also good at batting. To see how big a lead the visitors can take.
The start of the game was delayed due to rain in the morning. The host Sri Lanka scored 302 runs for 7 wickets the previous day. The tail batsmen failed miserably in the morning session. The Lankans lost 3 wickets while adding 3 runs. The Kiwis’ best bowler is William Rookre. This pacer took 5 wickets for 55 runs. Besides, Ejaz Patel and Glen Phillips got 2 wickets each.
In reply, Tom Latham played an opening innings of 70 runs. But his partner Devon Conway could not score more than 17 runs. Williamson scored 55 runs in three overs. After reaching fifty, Latham and Williamson quickly made their way to the dressing room. Prabhath Jayasuriya took Latham’s wicket. Williamson is brought back by Dhananjaya de Silva. From there, New Zealand returned to the fight again with Jadeja’s 39 runs.
But in the last session of the day, Jadeja was bowled by spinner Dhananjaya. New Zealand lost the fourth wicket. The Kiwis were in no danger in the late afternoon. Mitchell and Blundell put the team in a good position with an unbroken partnership of 59 runs. Let’s see how far New Zealand go with their bat tomorrow.
Yasin/Aminul