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The Day's Recap by Mayura Sathiyaselvan posted on December 18, 2006 (Link to Scorecard)

Sri Lanka has comprehensively thrashed the New Zealanders by 217 runs to seal a 1-1 draw in the National Bank Test Series. After a disappointing first test in Christchurch when they faltered inside 3 days, the Lankans have repaid the selectors faith in keeping an unchanged outfit to win this second test pretty comfortably.

New Zealand, facing a world record target of 504 never looked likely to pull off a historic win. After losing their two indecisive and out of their depth openers on day 3, the Kiwis would have been placing their hopes on long stays at the crease for the skipper Stephen Fleming and another player who has played big test match innings in the past, Mathew Sinclair.

Resuming at 75/2, the pair started things off brightly on the fourth morning, and the making of a big partnership was conceivable. However Fleming played a rash shot outside off stump to young sensation Lasith Malinga’s first ball of the day and would have been ruing his lack of patience having being dismissed caught at the wicket by Sangakkara for 27. Mathew Sinclair who had scored plenty of runs for Central Districts in the domestic State Shield once again couldn’t translate this to the international stage when he was baffled by a Muttiah Muralitharan doosra, and was well caught by the Sri Lankan leader Mahela Jayawardene at slip for 37. It goes to show there is a huge difference to facing the likes of Jeetan Patel to facing the wizardry of Murali.

Nathan Astle looks no where near the Astle of old, when he was smashing hundreds and scoring the fastest double century in the world. This series he has looked cumbersome, and once again wasn’t able to read a Murali special when he was trapped on the back foot right in front of the stumps for 9. At 156/5 New Zealand’s hopes were quickly dwindling and nothing short of a miracle (or bad weather) was going to save them.

Jacob Oram, the big allrounder, had suffered a hamstring strain during the first day, and never looked comfortable during both stays at the crease. He was hit low down on the pads by a Chaminda Vaas delivery – yes a bowler not named Murali or Malinga did take a wicket! – And was dismissed for 4. This brought the unorthodox Daniel Vettori to the crease who incidentally has the highest ever batting average for a number 8 batsman in the history of test cricket. Quite an accomplishment that! A partnership between Brendan McCullum and Daniel Vettori always leads to excitement, you know there could be plenty of runs on offer, but also that there is a fair chance a wicket can fall every ball. Unfortunately for McCullum and the Kiwis it just wasn’t his day, and when he chopped one to his stumps off the bowling of Murali for 17, the feeling around the ground was that the Kiwis might be bowled out before lunch.

This didn’t happen because Vettori and the next man in James Franklin showed some beautiful batsmanship and for a while would have sent shivers down the Sri Lankans throats with some lusty hitting down the ground of the spin king Murali himself. However after reaching a well compiled fifty, and with the partnership threatening at 96, Vettori was absolutely bamboozled by a Muralitharan doosra and after playing no shot, the umpire Simon Taufel had no qualms in raising the dreaded figure. Vettori certainly would be happy with his match performance after scoring 51 to add to his 10 wicket bag for the match. Shane Bond didn’t last long before he was caught behind off Maharoof for 6, and James Franklin trying to hit out (what else can you do when Chris Martin is the non-striker) was caught in the deep for a well-made 44. Murali was the wicket taker and ended up with innings figures of 6-87. The Kiwis were all out just before tea for 286, leaving them well short of the 504 required for victory.

In terms of the Kiwis, their top order needs a thorough investigation. Craig Cumming and Jamie How will be lucky to ever don the black cap again, and with players like Michael Papps, Tim McIntosh, and Mathew Bell in the frame, it seems that Cumming and How have had their last opportunity. Even the former mainstay Nathan Astle looks to be on thin ice in terms of his test status with young gun Ross Taylor pushing imminently closer to a test debut. Craig McMillan has been producing on the domestic front and may well make a comeback of Sourav Ganguly proportions. The Kiwis bowling stocks looks pretty solid, with Kyle Mills sure to be a big part of the future, but the keys to this attack continue to lie with Shane Bond and Dan Vettori.

Sri Lanka, and their Austrailan born coach Tom Moody will be ecstatic with the result in Wellington, and look to have uncovered a very solid player in Chamara Silva. Lasith Malinga was the other massive revelation in the two tests, and he is bound to make a huge impression on the world come World Cup time.

Now the focus turns to coloured clothing and a bevy of one day cricket with one eye firmly on the world cup for both sides. The next match on tour is a Twenty20 match, in which the Kiwis have brought in one day specialist Andre Adams, and possibly the next Martin Crowe in Ross Taylor. Sri Lanka is bound to play Tillakaratne Dilshan among others such as Ruchira Perera and Dilhara Fernando.

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