KAMINDU MENDIS PLAYER OF THE MATCH; PRABATH JAYASURIYA PLAYER OF THE SERIES
By Srian Obeyesekere
Sri Lanka demolished New Zealand by an innings and 154 runs in the second test by bowling the touring team for 360 on the follow on to take the series 2-0 in the glee of the hosts third win on the trot to enhancing their prospects of making it to the World Test Championship finals today at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.
New Zealand did go out with a fight in that follow on gloom with overnight batsman Tim Blundell and Glenn Philips going on to score half centuries of 60 and 78 respectively with Mitchell Santner
too taking a fifty in the deal swishing 6 boundaries and 3 over the top for 67 off 115 balls in going down.
Blundell was the first to be taken out by the Sri Lankans with debutant Nishan Peiris becoming the day’s centerpiece trapping him leg before wicket for 60 off 64 with 6 boundaries and 2 sixes, as the off spinner next added Philips to his bag caught by Karunaratne for 78 (99b, 6×4, 3x,6) as well as Santner caught behind by Kusal Mendis. His 6-wicket haul for 170 runs earned him his maiden debut 5 for haul.
The final bout did hold out a record beckoning challenge for Prabath Jayasuriya who was needed 6 wickets to the second fastest bowler in test cricket history to 100 wickets from his 16th game that would have put him joint fastest to the milestone alongside George Lohmann. But his 3 wickets for 139 put the Lankan out of the reckoning though he remains the highest wicket taker since debut averaging 28.42 for his 97 wickets while his 9 5-wicket hauls is comparatively more than any other bowler during this period since debuting in July 2022.
Jayasuriya’s overall 9-wicket haul did fetch him the Player of the Series award while young record breaking batting sensation Kamindu Mendis, who bludgeoned an unbeaten 182 to equalling Sir Donald Bradman’s record to the second fastest in the format to 1000-run milestone, winning the Player of the Match award.
Sri Lanka 602 for 5 dec (Kamindu 182, Chandimal 116, Kusal 106*, Mathews 88, Phillips 3-141) beat New Zealand 88 (Jayasuriya 6-42, Peiris 3-33) and 360 (Phillips 78, Santner 67, Conway 61, Blundell 60, Peiris 6-170, Jayasuriya 3-139) by an innings and 154 runs
