Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 4 wickets to win the first test in Galle, thanks to an excellent 4th innings run chase.
New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first, with their opening pair of Tom Latham and Jeet Raval putting on 64 for the first wicket, until Latham fell for 30, caught behind off the bowling of Akila Dananjaya. Three balls later, the bowler struck again to claim the highly prized wicket of Kiwi captain Kane Williamson, out for a duck. And he claimed his third wicket when he had Raval caught behind for 33 soon afterwards.
Ross Taylor and Henry Nicholls led a recovery with a stand of exactly 100, before Nicholls became Dananjaya’s fourth victim lbw for 42. Then, in his next over, he took his 5th wicket, BJ Watling out lbw. Ross Taylor (86 not out) and Mitchell Santner took the score to 203 – 5, before rain brought an early end to the first day.
When play resumed on the second day, Taylor was out caught behind off Suranga Lakmal, without adding to his overnight score. The same bowler then had Santner lbw for 13, before Tim Southee, who made 14, was run out by Dananjaya. Trent Boult scored 18 at the end, including one six, but he too fell to Lakmal, caught by Kusal Pereira. Lakmal then wrapped up the innings next ball, having Ajaz Patel lbw for a duck.
New Zealand had been bowled out for 249, with Dananjaya returning figures of 5 for 80, whilst Lakmal returned 4 for 29.
In response, New Zealand struck early, Patel getting Lahiru Thirimanne stumped for just 10. Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis added 39, but then Patel struck again, having Karunaratne lbw for 39. Mendis and Angelo Mathews put on 67, but then Sri Lanka suffered a collapse, with Mendis the first to go, caught by Taylor off Patel, having score 53, including one six. Trent Boult then had Kusal Perera caught by Santner, before Patel took his 4th wicket of the innings, having Dhananjaya de Silva caught and bowled. Soon afterwards, he had his fifth - Mathews, who had also struck a six, out for 50, Taylor with the catcher again.
Then William Somerville got into the action, taking the wicket of Dananjaya, with Taylor providing his third catch of the innings. However, then Niroshan Dickwella and Lakmal dug in, and shared an unbroken stand of 66 for the 8th wicket, as Sri Lanka moved to 227 – 7 at the close of play on the second day.
Dickwella finished the day 39 not out, whilst Lakmal was undefeated on 28.
Resuming on the third morning, the pair added 17 to their overnight score until Lakmal fell for 40, bowled by Boult. Dickwella put on 20 with Lasith Embuldenlya, but he was the 9th man out, top scoring with 61, caught by Williamson off Somerville. And then, in his next over Somerville had Embuldenlya lbw to wrap up the innings.
Sri Lanka were 267 all out, a lead of 18 on first innings. Patel was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers with 5 for 89.
New Zealand got off to a very poor start in their second innings. First to fall was Raval, caught by Karunaratne off Dhananjaya de Silva. Then Embuldenlya struck twice in successive overs to remove the key men of Williamson (a rare double failure for the skipper) and Taylor. Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls led a recovery with a stand of 56, but then Latham, who had hit one six, was caught by Thirimanne off Dananjaya for 45. Nicholls and Watling then resisted for a while, but Nicholls became the 5th wicket to fall, caught by Kusal Mendis off the bowling of Dhananjaya for 26.
The next man to fall was Mitchell Santner, caught by Lakmal off Embuldenlya, but Watling and Southee combined in a partnership of 54 for the seventh wicket until Embuldenlya claimed his 4th victim when he had Southee stumped for 23. Watling, who was 63 not out, and Somerville, then saw their side through to close of play on Day 3 with New Zealand 177 runs ahead, with three wickets standing.
The pair added a further 29 on the morning of the 4th day before Watling eventually fell for 77, caught behind off Kumara. But Somerville then combined with Boult in a 9th wicket stand worth 36, until Boult, who had hit one six, perished for 26, caught by Dhananjaya, Kumara again the bowler. Last man Patel then scored 14 before he was lbw to Dhananajaya, leaving New Zealand 285 all out, their tail having batted them into what they thought was a potentially winning position.
Embuldenlya was the best of the Sri Lankan bowlers with 4 for 99.
That meant Sri Lanka needed 268 to win the match.
They were given an excellent start with Karunaratne and Thirimanne putting on an unbeaten 133, as Sri Lanka ended the day with all ten second innings wickets in hand. Karunaratne was 71 not out overnight, and his partner undefeated on 57.
On the 5th morning, the pair added a further 26 to the overnight score, before a wicket finally fell, Thirimanne lbw to Somerville for 64. Kusal Mendis was caught cheaply off Patel. But captain Karunaratne passed his century, sharing a stand of 44 with former skipper Mathews, before he was finally dismissed for 122, caught behind off Southee. He had hit one six and 6 fours and had helped bat his side to victory.
Mathews and Perera then added 32, and, although Perera fell to Boult for 23, Mathews and Dhananjaya saw their side home. Mathews was undefeated on 28 at the end, and Dhananjaya 14 not out.