New Zealand All Out for 88 Against Sri Lanka’s 602

You don’t often see a New Zealand like this!

The Kiwi bowlers bowled nearly 164 overs in Sri Lanka's first innings, as the hosts piled up 602 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. In response, New Zealand was bowled out for just 88 runs, failing to last even 40 overs (39.5 overs). While Sri Lanka's innings featured three centuries, New Zealand's highest score was just 29, achieved by Mitchell Santner, who came in at number nine. Sri Lanka's Prabath Jayasuriya claimed an impressive 6 wickets, giving the team a lead of 514 runs.

Sri Lanka's 514-run lead ranks fifth in the list of highest first-innings leads in Test history. At the top of this list is England, who set a record with a lead of 702 runs against Australia in 1938. However, this is the highest lead for Sri Lanka since 2006, when South Africa achieved a 587-run lead against them in Colombo.

The 514-run lead is the fifth highest in Test history.

Starting the day at 22 for 2, the Kiwis faced a disastrous innings largely due to Jayasuriya's performance. He took out key batsmen Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, and Glenn Phillips, claiming a total of 6 wickets. In the first Test of this series, he took 9 wickets across both innings. In his brief 16-Test career, he has claimed 5 wickets in an innings 9 times, all at home.

Of the 6 wickets taken by Jayasuriya, 5 catches were taken by captain Dhananjaya de Silva. This has only happened four times previously in Test cricket, with the last occurrence in a Sri Lanka-England Test in 2021.

Due to Sri Lanka enforcing the follow-on, New Zealand had to bat again in their second innings. They now face a daunting target of 514 runs, but their start has not been encouraging. Before lunch, they lost a wicket in just two overs, with Tom Latham going out for a duck. With 60 overs still remaining in the day, it remains to be seen whether Jayasuriya and his team can wrap up the Kiwis so quickly!