Having conceded New Zealand such a massive advantage on the penultimate day of the second Test, where Sri Lanka lost four wickets for 47 runs, it was a mere matter of when New Zealand were going to wrap up the P. Sara Oval Test yesterday’s last day’s play. The tourists had to patiently wait till the last session until the second new ball did the trick giving them a massive 167 run win which helped to square the two match series. It was New Zealand’s first win in Sri Lanka after 1998.

The Kiwis had to take six Sri Lankan wickets on the final day and once Thilan Samaraweera was run out in the morning, it was evident where the Test was heading.

Angelo Mathews confirmed his maturity and justified the faith the selectors have in him as the heir apparent to the leadership role as he batted for over five hours before being last man out. He batted for five hours, faced 228 balls and hit 11 fours and a six in his knock of 84.

Together with Prasanna Jayawardene, Mathews kept the New Zealand bowlers at bay adding 56 runs, but more importantly denied the opposition any success for two hours. Jayawardene fell soon after lunch to become the first Test victim of Todd Astle and Suraj Randiv also was dismissed in the afternoon session.

There was not much resistance from the Sri Lankan tail against the second new ball as they were bowled out five overs after tea.

The P. Sara Oval wicket lived up to its reputation as the best wicket in the country as the result came only in the last session. Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene too applauded the wicket although the recent results have been not too favourable towards his side as Sri Lanka have lost the last three Tests they have played here .

The wicket is not to be blamed for results however, but poor cricket by the Sri Lankans. On all three occasions, the hosts came to P. Sara Oval with a 1-0 lead only to lose the game to square the series due to batting collapses.

Captain Ross Taylor, who made a century in the first innings and a crucial 74 in the second innings, was named Man of the Match while Rangana Herath, who ended with 20 wickets over the two Tests, was named Man of the Series.

After the days of Sir Richard Hadlee, no New Zealand seamer has bowled so devastatingly here. The fact that all three seamers –Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell – had such excellent returns speaks of the excellent work former paceman Chaminda Vaas has done with them feeding input on how to bowl on Sri Lankan conditions and the weak areas of the opposition batsmen. In the end, that made a big difference.

Source: Island (Sri Lanka)