da aposte e ganhe： Having seen Thilan Samaraweera strike a magnificent 159 and take Sri Lanka to 452, New Zealand responded strongly in the final session
The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran19-Aug-2009
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Thilan Samaraweera needed only 43 balls to get from his century to 150•Associated Press
Having seen Thilan Samaraweera strike a magnificent 159 and take Sri Lanka to 452, New Zealand responded strongly in the final session, with Tim McIntosh leading the resistance to the twin-spin threat. The loss ofDaniel Flynn just before stumps changed the complexion somewhat, but NewZealand still deserved plaudits for sticking to the task with the ball andthen showing real character with the bat. The star of the day though wasundoubtedly Samaraweera, who took more than half an hour to score hisfirst run of the day before racing from 100 to 150 in just 43 deliveries.Morning rain meant a two-hour delay and a readjustment in the sessiontimings, and after a sedate first hour before lunch, when only 35 runswere added and Mahela Jayawardene snaffled by Iain O’Brien, there was aninjection of excitement after the interval. Angelo Mathews flicked thefirst ball after the interval for four and then paddle-swept four more,but when New Zealand reeled off three successive maidens, the momentumappeared to have been lost.Samaraweera was marooned on 97 for a while, but the moment he struck agorgeous straight drive off Jeetan Patel to get to three figures, the moodchanged. In Patel’s next over, he lofted over mid-on for four and six, andthen cut four more as the scoreboard started to race along. Daniel Vettoriwas also taken over midwicket, and Patel repeatedly driven with deftfootwork. Mathews joined in with a heaved six off the hapless Patel andthough he departed soon after, edging a drive behind off Vettori,Samaraweera continued to race along.Prasanna Jayawardene went caught short at short leg off Vettori, buteither side of that, Samaraweera drove, cut and even steered to third manoff pace and spin alike. Having taken 223 balls for his century, he wassuddenly smacking the ball like a man having an extended net session. Soonafter, he came down the track to Vettori and found Patel at long-off,departing after a 277-ball effort. Chris Martin and Vettori then wrappedup the tail in a jiffy, as the last four wickets added just eight.Fortune appeared to be on Sri Lanka’s side early on when a thick outsideedge from Jayawardene off O’Brien flew between wicketkeeper and slip. NewZealand’s frustration quickly turned to joy though, when another deliveryin the corridor was almost guided off the edge to the right of Ross Taylorat first slip. The new ball was taken almost as soon as it was due, and aquiet phase followed, with Mathews finding his feet and Samaraweera takingno chances.The ball was then changed after having lost its shape, but it made nodifference, with Samaraweera lashing one behind point for four. A neatclip through midwicket off Jesse Ryder took him to 96, but a tidy overfrom Vettori ensured that he would have to contend with the nervousnibbles at lunch. It was a different story thereafter.The ball changes were a bizarre feature of the final session too, withthree used before New Zealand had played even 10 overs. The inningsstarted promisingly enough, with Martin Guptill clipping and pullingleg-side fours off Nuwan Kulasekara. Ajantha Mendis was on as early as theninth over but it was Thilan Thushara that gave Kumar Sangakkara thebreakthrough. The ball had just been changed when Guptill played a superbon-drive, but his attempt to find the square-leg boundary with a pull onlymeant a ricochet on to the base of the stumps.With Murali coming on soon after, runs were hard to come by, but asMcIntosh swept and drove Mendis for fours, New Zealand seemed to befinishing the day the better. But Mendis came round the wicket to bowlFlynn off the inner edge and with more rain forecast for the remainingdays, survival was New Zealand’s first priority after an eventful day inthe shadow of the 400-year-old fort.