Daryl Mitchell 102, Blair Tickner triple-strike hand New Zealand advantage
Matt Henry’s 72 from No. 9 helped the hosts take an 18-run first-innings lead
Sri Lanka 355 and 83 for 3 (O Fernando 28, Mathews 20*, Tickner 3-28) lead New Zealand 373 (Mitchell 102, Henry 72, A Fernando 4-85) by 65 runs
A Daryl Mitchell ton followed by a Matt Henry blitz put the hosts in pole position for the first time in the Christchurch Test, as New Zealand’s lower order wrestled control away from Sri Lanka on a riveting third day of play at the Hagley Oval. Blair Tickner further pressed home the advantage, picking up three wickets in the final session, as the visitors ended 65 runs ahead with seven wickets in hand; but the momentum still lay with the hosts.
Much of the damage was down to the efforts of Henry, whose 72 off only 75 balls from No. 9 knocked the wind out of Sri Lanka’s sails at a point when they might have been entertaining thoughts of obtaining a considerable a first-innings lead. And like any good onslaught, Henry’s destructive cameo came about unexpectedly and brutally.
Seemingly catalyzed by the wicket of Mitchell – who had fought his way to 102 from 193 deliveries – over the course of a subdued if not attritional day of cricket barring a brief period prior to lunch, Henry, having trundled to 20 off his first 45 deliveries, produced 52 off his next 30.
Dhananjaya de Silva’s off breaks were the first to get the treatment, as two slogs over cow corner for six were followed by a back-foot scythe through cover. That was just the entree, before Henry feasted off Kasun Rajitha a few overs later, taking the until-that-point miserly seamer for 24 in an over, which included five consecutive boundary blows – including a monumental straight six.
By the time Henry fell – courtesy a yorker from Asitha Fernando – New Zealand’s deficit had instead transformed into a five-run lead. Henry’s heroics almost obscured Neil Wagner at the other end, who scored 27 off 24 balls in the process. To add to all of that, Tim Southee’s quickfire 25 from 20 deliveries meant New Zealand’s last four added a decisive 126 runs off 124 balls after they were 188 for 6 at one stage, still 167 behind Sri Lanka’s first-innings total.
And prior to Henry’s devastating intervention, New Zealand’s gains had been steady if not exactly express. Leading the way was Mitchell. The first hour of play saw the Sri Lankan seamers being unable to replicate the consistency of the previous day, perhaps guilty of trying to force the issue; and Mitchell had a large role to play in this.
Blair Tickner took all three Sri Lanka wickets to fall on day three
His frequent shifts in the crease – either by shuffling down the track or taking guard a foot in front of the crease – made it particularly difficult for Rajitha and Asitha to maintain consistent lengths. Over the course of his innings, Mitchell accumulated runs without really pressing the issue. And by the time he fell, he had brought his side within 64 runs of Sri Lanka’s score, before Henry took hold of the game.
All in all, New Zealand scored 211 runs in a little under two sessions, 82 of which would come in that extraordinary hour before tea. Even though that would see New Zealand’s lead stretch to just 18, by the time Sri Lanka’s openers came out to the middle, the shift in momentum between the two camps was palpable.
New Zealand’s bowlers, reinvigorated by their tail-end exploits, were unerring in their lines and lengths; the Sri Lanka batters, by contrast, never looked settled, something highlighted by each of their dismissals: Dimuth Karunaratne was once more caught after edging a drive, Oshada Fernando feathered an ill-advised cut through to the wicketkeeper, and Kusal Mendis was caught in the slips lashing at one outside off barely 20 minutes before stumps.
Angelo Mathews was left holding fort alongside night Watcher Prabath Jayasuriya, and while Sri Lanka certainly have a lot of batting left, New Zealand remain on the verge of landing a knockout blow.
