Sri Lanka 305 and 309 beat New Zealand 340 and 211 by 63 runs
Sri Lanka didn’t need long on the final morning in Galle to wrap things up, taking just 15 minutes to grab the final two New Zealand wickets and secure a 63-run win. The result means Sri Lanka go 1-0 up in the two-match series, while also leapfrogging New Zealand in the World Test Championship table up to third place.
Prabath Jayasuriya was unsurprisingly at the forefront of Sri Lanka’s charge finishing with figures of 5 for 68, his eighth five-wicket haul and his seventh at Galle. He ended with match figures of 9 for 204, taking home the player of the match award.
After having fought so hard the previous day, Rachin Ravindra lasted just eight deliveries into the session, as Jayasuriya trapped him in front with an arm ball for a 168-ball 92. Coming around the wicket this was one tossed up on leg, as Ravindra was caught in the crease playing down the wrong line. He reviewed, but once it was confirmed to be pitching in line there would be no saving him.
And any lingering hopes of a famous rearguard were then swiftly quashed, as Will O’Rourke kept out just five deliveries before the sixth slipped past his forward defence and on to off stump, to hand Jayasuriya his fifth of the innings.
It was a disappointing end to an otherwise impressive showing for the 23-year-old seamer, who finished the game with eight wickets to his name – the second-most across the Test, same as Ajaz Patel.
In terms of how this impacts the World Test Championship, it keeps Sri Lanka’s outside hopes of a final berth alive, but for New Zealand it makes their task considerably tougher with series against India and England coming up in the next few months.
There will be no time to dwell on this result though for either team, with just a two-day break before the second Test gets underway on Thursday – also in Galle.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo