BLACKCAPS 221 all out (Kane Williamson 69, Hamish Rutherford 37, AN Pradeep 4-63) lead Sri Lanka 78-5 (Kumar Sangakkara 33*, Doug Bracewell 3-23) by 143 runs at the Basin Reserve, Wellington.
Fifteen wickets tumbled one day one at the Basin - but by the time the dust settled, the BLACKCAPS found themselves 143 in front, with five Sri Lankan wickets to get on day two. After watching the batsmen lose six wickets for 54 runs, the home bowlers put the heat on late in the day to arguably put themselves ahead at the close.
Seemingly inevitably, Angelo Matthews called the toss correctly and the BLACKCAPS found themselves batting first on a good old Basin greentop.
The talk was around whether the pitch held as many demons as the green tinge promised - but Hamish Rutherford looked at home on the surface, producing a number of fine drives for four, and was soon racing along at a run a ball.
Tom Latham made six from 21 balls before prodding outside off to RAS Lakmal and was caught by HAPW Jayawardene behind the stumps. He was followed by Rutherford in similar fashion in the 17th over for 37, after he’d done the hard work to get in.
The BLACKCAPS went to lunch well placed at 92-3, but Sri Lanka immediately seized the upper hand. Ross Taylor (35), Brendon McCullum (0) and Kane Williamson, who had looked in fine touch for 69, all lost their wickets by playing on to balls that were not quite there for the cut.
In the process, the BLACKCAPS went from 141-3 to 195-9 when Tim Southee was dismissed for a duck not long after tea. Trent Boult joined Doug Bracewell to make a breezy 26 partnership for the last wicket with a range of innovative shot making, before Bracewell was bowled by KTGD Prasad for 16, denying AN Pradeep (4-63) his five wicket bag.
The BLACKCAPS then got a pop with the ball – Boult worked up a head of steam and was first to strike in the ninth over, getting FDM Karunaratne to slash at a wide-ish ball, where he was caught low by Jimmy Neesham in the slips for 16.
Doug Bracewell then bowled JK Silva for five, after the opener played a ball hard into the ground, only to see it pop up and collect the top of middle stump. Bracewell went on to pick up HDRL Thirimanne for a duck, caught by McCullum at mid off for a duck, and HAPW Jayawardene from the last ball of the day, caught by Jimmy Neesham in the slips.
In between, Tim Southee removed the dangerous Angelo Matthews for 15, caught behind by BJ Watling.
The big Basin crowd of just under 5000 that packed in on a breezy Wellington day that started cloudy before brightening, also got to see Kumar Sangakkara score his 12,000th Test run to warm applause.
The BLACKCAPS resume day two with their noses arguably in front, and keen to attack Sangakkara, his batting partners and expose the tail.
