New Zealand is in big trouble, what danger is looming after the follow-on, Sri Lanka tightened the noose in Galle Test


Gaul. The New Zealand team seems to be in trouble on the tour of Sri Lanka. After losing the first test match, the performance of the Kiwi team in the second match has been very disappointing. For the first time in Test history, a team has achieved a lead of more than 500 runs against New Zealand. Sri Lanka is five wickets away from victory with New Zealand scoring 199 runs for five wickets in the second innings on the third day of the second cricket test on Saturday. If Sri Lanka wins, it will sweep New Zealand in the two-match series and will win the first Test series against this team in 15 years.

New Zealand, who came to play follow-on, still need 315 runs to avoid innings defeat. The match was likely to be over within three days but due to bad light the umpires decided to stop the game with 20 overs remaining. At the end of the day’s play, Tom Blundell was playing on 47 runs while Glenn Phillips was playing on 32 runs. Both have added 78 runs for the sixth wicket.

On the third day, the New Zealand team took 13 wickets, including nine wickets in the morning session. New Zealand started the day with 22 runs for two wickets in the first innings and lost the remaining eight wickets of the first innings in the morning session due to which the team was reduced to 88 runs. The visiting team lagged by 514 runs on the basis of first innings and was forced to follow-on.

In the second innings, New Zealand lost the wicket of opener Tom Latham (0) in the very first over. He was dismissed by debuting off-spinner Nishan Peiris (three wickets for 91 runs). Opener Devon Conway (61) and captain Kane Williamson (46) handled the innings by adding 97 runs for the second wicket. Dhananjay de Silva broke this partnership by dismissing Conway. After this, Peiris dismissed Williamson and Rachin Ravindra (12) and reduced New Zealand’s score to 121 runs for five wickets. However, Blundell and Phillips did not allow the team to face any further setbacks after this.

Earlier, in the first innings for Sri Lanka, Prabath Jayasuriya took six wickets for 42 runs while Peiris took three wickets for 33 runs. Jayasuriya now needs five wickets to achieve the fastest 100 Test wickets. This record is in the name of George Lohman of England since 1896.

Tags: New Zealand cricket, Sri Lanka Cricket Team