Sri Lanka vs New Zealand, 1st Test, Day 4 preview: Battling Watling gives New Zealand advantage

The third day began with Niroshan Dickwella and Suranga Lakmal continuing to frustrate the New Zealanders. It ended with BJ Watling frustrating the Sri Lankans. By the time bad light brought forward stumps on the third day, New Zealand, from 98/5, had posted 195/7 to boost their lead to 177. They will look to extend it as much as possible on the fourth morning, giving their spinners enough leeway on a poisonous pitch.

In the morning, Ajaz Patel, the five-wicket hero of the previous day, was negotiated expertly by Dickwella and Lakmal, despite him getting fine turn on a yielding pitch. They batted cautiously, but weren’t too shy of playing their shots. Dickwella, in particular, likes the sweep, and against Patel in particular, he put that to good use.

Eventually, Sri Lanka managed to post 267, with Dickwella scoring a fine 61, which was constructed mostly with contributions from the tail. The afternoon session, however, completely belonged to the hosts. They had Jeet Raval dismissed late in the first session, and then added the scalps of Kane Williamson (4) and Ross Taylor (3). At 25/3 with their two best batsmen back in the dugout, New Zealand seemed done and dusted.

But Latham’s fighting 45 and Watling’s partnerships with Henry Nicholls (26), Mitchell Santner (12) and Tim Southee (23) kept Sri Lanka at bay and slowly turned the scales. In fact, by the time stumps were drawn, New Zealand can be said to be holding all the cards. Watling, on 63* at the moment, will resume on the fourth morning with all his stoicism. If he can get a partnership going with Somerville, who is also known to be a hard tail-ender to dismiss, New Zealand can inch their way to a fine total.

Sri Lanka, in fact, need early wickets. The pitch will not get easier to bat on, and in Patel, demonstrably, New Zealand have a capable spinner, especially on pitches with some assistance. There’s plenty of time left in the Test. Wickets will be key.

Brief scores

New Zealand 249 and 195/7 in 76 overs (Tom Latham 45, BJ Watling 63; Lasith Embuldeniya 4/71, Dhananjaya de Silva 2/16) lead Sri Lanka 267 in 93.2 overs (Kusal Mendis 53, Angelo Mathews 50, Niroshan Dickwella 61; Ajaz Patel 5/89, Will Somerville 3/83) by 177 runs.