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The Day's Recap by Mayura Sathiyaselvan posted on December 15, 2006 (Link to Scorecard)

After an intriguing first day's play at the Basin Reserve, the honours look to have been shared after a late fightback from the Sri Lankan bowlers. Bundled out for 268 in just 65 overs, Sri Lanka came back strongly to reduce the Black Caps to 66 for 4 which includes the big wickets of Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle. Kumar Sangakkara with a blistering century and Lasith Malinga with his sheer pace have been the stars for the day in putting their team on top.

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss for the second game in succession, and as opposed to his decision at Christchurch, there were no surprises when he chose to bat first on what looked like a relatively flat track. Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan batsmen made the pitch look far worse than it actually was with a mixture of some poor shot selection and a tinge of recklessness throughout the order. Sanath Jayasuriya continued his woeful tour with an edge straight to Fleming on the third ball he faced. This wicket was taken by Chris Martin who definitely looked like the Kiwis' best bowler in the first session. He would later pick up both Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardene in the first hour of play. Shane Bond, the Cantabrian pace bowler would be the first to admit he wasn’t as sharp as he was at Jade Stadium, and struggled at times with both line and length.

Kumar Sangakkara followed his lone knock at Jade with an exquisite innings of 156 not out ,which featured an array of classy cover drives and included 21 fours and a towering a six over square leg. Sangakkara has been the one batsman in the series so far that has seemed untroubled by the typical seaming wickets that New Zealand seems to offer on a yearly basis. Martin Crowe made the very pertinent point that Sangakarra seems to play with so much time in his hand – a quality that only the very best batsman in the world seem to have. Additionally, his innings brought up the milestone of 5000 runs at test cricket, as well as pushing his test average up over the much vaunted 50 mark.

Sangakkara found a much needed ally in Chamara Silva – who after bagging a pair of ducks in his maiden test at Christchurch – played an aggressive hand in the valuable 121 run partnership. He finally succumbed to a poor shot off James Franklin’s bowling for a well compiled 61. After mounting pressure from the public to include Tillekeratne Dilshan at the expense of Silva, the selectors seem to have had the last laugh on this occasion.

The Sri Lankan Wicket Keeper, Prasanna Jayawardene scored a breezy 25 before being adjudged LBW from the bowling of Daniel Vettori who now seems to have a genuine competition from the English sensation Monty Panesar as to who really is the best left arm finger spinner in the world.

The Sri Lankan tail did not wag on this fine summers day in Wellington, and Vettori was duly rewarded with 3 wickets, while Bond finished with the wickets of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan. The Sri Lankans would not have been over the moon with their total of 268 – which was scored at a very good test match clip of 4.12 runs per over. New Zealand may have felt disappointed with some wayward bowling at times, but on the whole Stephen Fleming would have been reasonably satisfied at bowling the Lankans out on the first days play.

New Zealand had 23 overs to negotiate before stumps, and they didn’t look comfortable from the outset. Jamie How and Craig Cumming really do not look like international openers, and after a couple of streaky boundaries Cumming found himself walking to the pavilion first after playing a defensive shot even Glenn McGrath wouldn’t have been proud of. How was trapped plumb in front for a streaky 25 and once the captain Fleming was dismissed for a duck, Sri Lanka had seized the initiative.

Lasith Malinga and Muralitharan baffled Mathew Sinclair and Nathan Astle in the hour before stumps, and in what turned out to be the last ball of the day, Astle missed a full toss from Malinga and was bowled. Malinga in particular, bowling from the RA Vance stand end was superb and ended up with figures of 3 for 37, and Maharoof was the other wicket taker with figures of 1 for 10.

An interesting test looks to be unfolding here, and one feels that barring any bad weather, this test could be over inside 3 days like the first test at Jade Stadium.

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