New Zealand will again require a significant revival to avoid another home defeat, helpless to prevent Sri Lanka from taking command of the first test.
With their miraculous victory over England fading further in the memory, the Black Caps struggled throughout the second day at Hagley Oval, continuing their concerning recent form.
The home side spent today slowly and unsteadily chipping away at a decent deficit, reaching 162-5 at stumps, having wrapped up the Sri Lankan first innings for 355.
Time on their side, the Black Caps’ top order seemed determined to patiently build the type of innings that would end with their team in a position from which they could not be beaten.
But Tom Latham — who did look primed for a big knock before being beautifully yorked on 67 — was the only player capable of the necessary application.
His cohort, meanwhile, were consistently troubled by a three-prong pace attack that came into the test boasting 129 wickets. In fairness to that trio, Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha bowled with purpose and potency on a wicket offering ample assistance.
“It was tricky pretty much the whole innings,” Latham told Spark Sport. “Once the ball got bit older and the wicket hardened up and got a bit quicker, the ball was seaming at a decent pace.”
The hosts’ battles with the bat, though, further highlighted their inadequacies with the ball.
Tim Southee and Matt Henry couldn’t assume an ounce of blame, collecting a combined 9-144 from 52.4 overs. But Neil Wagner and Blair Tickner were a net negative while recording 0-171 from 30.
The unbalanced attack established on day one was repeated this morning, as Southee edged Henry in the race for a five-wicket bag — the skipper’s 15th in tests — after Sri Lanka had added 50 frustrating runs.
Latham and Conway negotiated a six-over period before lunch, and the 50-run partnership came up in 20 overs as both players proceeded in unhurried fashion.
Any plan to build a match-winning platform in that manner was undone, however, by a double-strike before tea.
Conway was the first to depart, a little unlucky as his lbw review reverted to the umpire after Fernando had beaten the opener’s attempted drive with a delivery that would have clipped the top of off.
Three overs later, on the final ball before the break, there was no such misfortune in Kane Williamson’s dismissal. Coming off a much-changing century against England, Williamson suffered a rare lapse in concentration and fell into a Sri Lankan plan, driving straight to cover off Kumara.
The quick struck again soon after tea, getting a top edge from Henry Nicholls’ unseemly pull, extending to 13 the Cantabrian’s streak of test innings without scoring more than 30.
Daryl Mitchell lived dangerously early in his innings, missing a full delivery from Rajitha that thudded into his pad, thankful to be given not out as the review went back to umpire’s call.
Rajitha, a 29-year-old possessing 39 test scalps, was appearing unplayable while generating some swing. Unlike against England, when he attacked well from the start, Mitchell was on 1 from 17 before finding the fence from a streaky drive, surviving another shout when deceived once more the following ball.
At the other end, Latham registered his 27th test half-century to continue a strong summer, but Fernando brutally ended his stay by ripping a yorker right through his defences.
“I faced 140-odd balls and certainly never felt in,” Latham said. “You always felt that the ball was doing something. It was just about trying to stay nice and tight and be patient and disciplined.”
After Rajitha finally found reward — and a faint edge from Tom Blundell — shortly before stumps, that discipline will tomorrow will needed from Mitchell (40no) and Michael Bracewell (9no).
Latham credited the former with escaping from the fraught period he endured, and thought scoring would prove difficult for the rest of the test.
“On these surfaces, sometimes you need to score some ugly runs,” he said. “That’s just the nature of the surface, trying to guts it out and wait for something in your area.
“The wicket’s not getting any easier at the moment. It’s going to offer a lot for the bowlers probably throughout the whole match.”
