With the rain clouds staying away and the Galle sky clear, Sri Lanka
romped to victory in the first Test, finishing off proceedings
mid-afternoon. The New Zealand tail offered far more resistance than the
top order - Daniel Vettori led the way with a brave 67 - but with the
spinners coming into their own after early breakthroughs from
Thilan
Thushara, Sri Lanka eased to a 202-run win. Fittingly
Muttiah
Muralitharan, who had taken his 100th wicket in Galle earlier in the
match, had the final say, running out Brendon McCullum with a superb throw
from mid-off to finish off proceedings.
Any realistic hopes that New Zealand had of survival had disappeared soon
after lunch, when Jesse Ryder edged Murali behind. McCullum and Vettori
staved off the inevitable for a while, and there was polite applause for
Vettori when he reached his half-century. Two neat pulls for four off
Thushara followed, but by then both Murali and Ajantha Mendis were turning
the ball at wicked angles.
And it was Mendis who delivered, coming round the wicket and turning one
sharply away to take the edge of Vettori's bat. Once again Prasanna
Jayawardene's glovework was smooth, and as Vettori walked back,
it was only a matter of when Sri Lanka would wrap things up. McCullum
swung Murali for a six, and then swept him for four to rage against dying
light, and there were a couple of lovely drives too from Jeetan Patel. But
after Mendis had seen him dropped by Malinda Warnapura, substituting for
Angelo Mathews, at short leg, Murali struck, with the doosra luring him
forward and Prasanna doing the rest.
Iain O'Brien went caught at silly point off the inside edge, and McCullum
then made the mistake of taking on Murali's throwing arm to end the
contest. The damage, though, had been done much earlier, as Sri Lanka
started the morning with some exceptionally tidy overs. The pressure
eventually told once Thushara switched the angle of attack to round the
wicket. Martin Guptill was clueless against one that came in with the arm
and then darted away to clip the top of off stump. Soon after, Tim
McIntosh, perhaps still suffering the after-effects of illness, was
squared up, and Thilan Samaraweera took a fine low catch at third slip.
McIntosh waited for the third umpire's decision, but had to walk off
eventually.
An even heftier blow came soon after. Kumar Sangakkara threw the ball to
his predecessor as captain, and when Mahela Jayawardene got Ross Taylor to
tickle on into Prasanna's hands down the leg side, the Lankan celebrations
were raucous. Up in the dressing room, Trevor Bayliss, the coach, held his
head in his hands in disbelief.
With the fields more attacking, both Vettori and Jacob Oram had the
opportunity to play some strokes. Vettori played a couple of lovely
drives, and the sweep and pull were also employed by both as the
scoreboard ticked along. But just when it seemed that they might get to
lunch without further damage, Oram tried to sweep a straighter one from
Mendis, and missed.
Both Vettori and Ryder saw edges off Murali evade wicketkeeper and slip
and go for four, but there was to be no great escape for New Zealand. Sri
Lanka, whose home form is the envy of so many, chipped away relentlessly
and with Thushara adding a cutting edge to the wiles of Murali and Mendis,
victory was as inevitable as it was emphatic.