Lanky fast bowler Blair Tickner and spinner Michael Bracewell slogged all day in a Basin Reserve gale to bowl New Zealand to an inning and 58-run win over Sri Lanka in the second test Monday and a sweep of the two-match series.
The win was completed with only minutes remaining on the fourth day and capped New Zealand’s extraordinary summer of home test matches, which includes a one-run win over England at the Basin Reserve and a two-wicket win over Sri Lanka from the last ball of the first test.
Once again New Zealand couldn’t win without drama as it pursued Sri Lanka’s last two wickets in fading light and a blustering wind on Monday. Had it not bowled out Sri Lanka, it would have had to have returned to try to do so on the final day, when rain was forecast in Wellington.
Sri Lanka’s last two pairs defied the New Zealand bowlers for almost two hours before the home team secured the wickets it needed for victory. New Zealand had to bowl 142 overs to dismiss Sri Lanka in the second innings, after bowling 67 in the first innings before enforcing the follow-on.
Dhanahaya de Silva made 98 and Dinesh Chandimal 62 to help Sri Lanka bat throughout all but a few minutes of the final day. Kusal Rajitha then batted for 2-1/2 hours, Prabath Jayasuriya and Lahiru Kumara for an hour each as the Sri Lanka tail gallantly tried to force the match into the fifth day when the weather might intervene. Southee took 3-21.
Double centuries by Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls allowed New Zealand to post 580-4 in its only innings before it bowled out Sri Lanka for 164 and enforced the follow with the tourists 416 behind.