Black Caps win second test and series over Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve

Second test, day four, Basin Reserve: New Zealand 580-4 dec beat Sri Lanka 164 and 358 (Dhananjaya de Silva 98, Dinesh Chandimal 62, Dimuth Karunaratne 51, Kusal Mendis 50; Tim Southee 3-51, Blair Tickner 3-84) by an innings and 58 runs.

New Zealand were buffeted by conditions and their opposition before wrapping up a win and a series sweep over Sri Lanka in Wellington.

The Black Caps dismissed the visitors for 358 in their second innings late on Monday, giving them victory by an innings and 58 runs in the second test at the Basin Reserve.

On a blustery day four, Dhananjaya de Silva fell two short of a century, trying to create a scoring opportunity off Michael Bracewell to bring up his ton, only to toe-end the ball to Henry Nicholls at short square leg.

Four visiting batters made half-centuries, but none managed to sway the final outcome after Sri Lanka resumed on 113-3, still requiring an imposing 303 to make New Zealand bat again.

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Kusal Mendis succumbed meekly in the first over of the day and Angelo Mathews followed soon after as Blair Tickner impersonated the injured and absent Neil Wagner.

Mendis and Mathews had combined to deny the Black Caps victory when the two sides last met in a test at the same venue five years previously.

Unbeaten overnight on 50, Mendis pulled the last ball of the first over on Monday to Kane Williamson’s hands at short midwicket and any thoughts of a repeat resistance from either were gone after 19 balls when Mathews became Tickner’s first victim of the day.

However, Dinesh Chandimal and de Silva dug in to frustrate the home side’s quintet of bowlers, as Tickner persisted under tactical instructions to pitch short into the body of the duo from around the wicket with a stacked leg-side field.

Chandimal got to 63 from 99 balls and was just 11 balls from gaining a break from the barrage over lunch when Tickner’s insistent line of enquiries finally broke through.

As England discovered last month, dismissing a side on day four at the Basin Reserve isn’t a simple task, while the wind also made life tough for the pace bowlers.

Debutant wicketkeeper-batter Nishan Madushka (39) was another to fall to Tickner’s tactics – in the last over before tea – and once de Silva departed, the end was expcted to come quickly.

But Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara batted 14.4 overs in a stubborn ninth-wicket partnership and it looked likely a final day would be required until captain Tim Southee snared the final wicket just before 6:30pm.

Big moment

Sri Lanka still had a ton of work today to salvage a draw, but Chandimal and de Silva were about to make New Zealand’s lunch a little tougher to swallow before the former top-edged Tickner to Central Districts team-mate Doug Bracewell at fine leg.

Best with the bat

De Silva wouldn’t have been a name well-known by the casual New Zealand cricket fans, but the 31-year-old allrounder was on the cusp of his 10th test ton before trying to unnecessarily manufacture it. Had he been given more dedicated support, he could have left the opposition listening to overnight rain with some trepidation.

Best with the ball

It wasn’t pretty, but Tickner took on the Wagner role with relish, pounding away into the gale, and Sri Lanka’s middle-order didn’t show enough discipline to counter it.

Big picture

The world test champions were out of title defence contention before the home summer season began, but bounced back from defeat against England in mid-February to win three in a row.