Day 4: NZ v SL

The Second Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand is headed for a draw after the tourists took a slender advantage into the second innings with only a day to play.

When bad light ended play, New Zealand were 1/92 and held a lead of 99 thanks to a persistent bowling display that restricted Sri Lanka to 298 eariler in the day.

Without the services of leading spin bowler Daniel Vettori, the Black Caps' bowling options looked limited. However unheralded 33-year-old Paul Wiseman made the most of a rare opportunity at ths level to claim 4/104, including the valuable wickets of leading scorers Sanath Jayasuriya (82) and Hashan Tillakaratne (93).

Sri Lanka began the day in a strong position at 2/94, and made good progress early before Wiseman struck his first blow, terminating Jayasuriya's quick-fire innings just as the former Captain looked set for a much longer stay.

Shane Bond, who with 1/78 had perhaps his worst return to date in Test cricket, claimed Kaluwitharana for 20. Soon after, Dharmasena became Wiseman's second victim as Sri Lanka slumped to 5/189 and gave New Zealand some hope of pushing for victory.

Lokuarachchi (20) and Vaas (22) provided the required resistance to support Tillakaratne and ensure that Sri Lanka came with seven runs of New Zealand's first innings total.

Marvan Atapattu made a brief appearance to the middle, but his stay was short lived. The injuries he sustained in the dat two collision with Vettori saw him retire with just two runs to his name.

Wiseman finished off proceedings with the wickets of Nissanka and Tillakaratne, who was just seven runs short of a twelfth test hundred. Wiseman's epic bolwing display was well supported by Jacob Oram, who took an economical 3/54 from twenty overs.

New Zealand's innings began slowly, with the first runs not coming until the fifth over. Richardson and Horne then set out bat for the rest of the day, however Horne failed to make the most of his opportunity at the top of the order. He fell for 27 to Muralitharan.

The increasingly impressive Mark Richardson brought up yet another half century before stumps, he and Stephen Fleming (10*) carrying New Zealand to the close.

The final day looks set to be somewhat of a non-event, unless Fleming decides on a generous declaration tomorrow. But given the state of the series, this seems highly unlikely and a 0-0 result beckons.

Score Summary:

New Zealand 305 (Oram 74, Muralitharan 3/90)

Sri Lanka 298 (Tillakaratne 93, Jayasuriya 82, Wiseman 4/104, Oram 3/54)

New Zealand 1/92 (Richardson 51*, Fleming 10*)

Close, Day 4.

Posted by JohnC