Chameera's five-for hands Sri Lanka the advantage on Day 2
Dushmantha Chameera’s maiden Test five-wicket haul left New Zealand still 60 runs behind Sri Lanka’s first innings total of 292, with just one wicket in hand, at the end of day two of the second Test at Hamilton.
Starting the day on 264 for 7, Sri Lanka couldn’t get to 300, as the Kiwi bowlers wrapped up the tail inside the first hour. When Tim Southee got rid of Sri Lanka's last specialist batsman in Angelo Mathews, with the score at 284, the end was near.
Neil Wagner’s bouncer then struck Suranga Lakmal on the shoulder and hit the base of middle stump, but the bails remained unmoved, similar to Doug Bracewell’s delivery on day one, but the last two wickets only added eight runs as the Wagner and Bracewell cleaned up the tail.
As the Kiwi openers got off to a steady start, it looked as though the Kiwis might take the lead before the close of play. Martin Guptill, who found form in the first Test, notched up another fifty, but the fall of Tom Latham’s wicket sparked a top-order collapse.
The hosts lost four wickets for eight runs, as both their openers and their two best players in 2015, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, fell to a fired-up Chameera, who bowled the fastest ball of the match in the process.
After almost sleepwalking through the first session, where they scored just 28 runs in 16.1 overs before being bowled out and bowling without any real intent, the visitors came back with a bang in the second session as they picked five wickets for 72 runs to turn the match on its head.
Chameera, who had only played three Tests prior to this one, bounced out the New Zealand batsman on a pitch that seemed to be getting progressively more docile for every other Sri Lankan bowler apart from him.
Despite having New Zealand on the ropes at 133 for 5 at tea, Mathews didn't use Chameera until late in the final session, where the 23-year-old tearaway quick, once again got the breakthrough for his captain.
Thanks to lower-order contributions from Mitchell Santer (38), BJ Watling (28) and Bracewell, who remains unbeaten on 30, the Kiwis were able to end the day on 232/9, still 60 runs behind the visitors’ total.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 292 ( Mathews 77, Southee 63/3) lead New Zealand 232/9 (Guptill 50, Chameera 47/5) by 60 runs