*Official* Sri Lanka Tour of New Zealand 2018/19

[OverratedSanity]

The blueprint is the 2014 tour of England, we got away with a draw at Lords after a few of the more experienced batsmen made runs (mind you the bowlers fared a bit better - particularly in the 2nd innings).

Then in the 2nd test despite falling behind we piled on runs in the 2nd innings (largely thanks to Matthews) and some Prasad magic late on day 4 and a long grind on day 5 resulted in a 2nd last ball win.

What kind of pitch are we expecting in Christchurch?

That Prasad spell is highly underrated. Was brilliant to watch.

 

[nzfan]

For some reason, I'm not so excited about our home series. I'd rather watch BCs playing in Dubai, India, Aussie or anywhere else. Probably because of the dodgy weather and also perhaps I know for sure one team is just going to dominate (although that hasn't happened yet).

 

[NZTailender]

Disagree with this. Rain is always a dire way to end a match. Sri Lanka grinding us to dust for two days would've been a great way to deserve the draw. Getting halfway there before losing a day of play is just a disappointing end to a match IMO.

Barring a spectacular collapse I think even with a full days play it would've headed for a draw.

 

[Maximas]

Was keen to see Mendis go for a double, damn

 

[MagicPoopShovel]

Barring a spectacular collapse I think even with a full days play it would've headed for a draw.

This was always a possibility had NZ broken this p'ship and gotten 1 more wicket.

 

[Moss]

Well deserved Sri Lanka. Gotta love an honourable draw. If the bowling can hit its straps in Christchurch, who knows.

Wonder if NZ should consider giving any of the seamers a rest considering the workloads and short turnaround time between tests.

 

[M0rphin3]

Aah fugg. Big props to these two though, brilliant from Mathews/Mendis. Really woulda been exciting with the final day's play, but oh well.

 

[Moss]

For some reason, I'm not so excited about our home series. I'd rather watch BCs playing in Dubai, India, Aussie or anywhere else. Probably because of the dodgy weather and also perhaps I know for sure one team is just going to dominate (although that hasn't happened yet).

Test cricket in NZ this decade has been a surfeit of 2 test series with the top teams stopping by every 5/6 years. Which is quite sad given how the team has markedly improved.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

This home season is absolutely awful. My Firebirds Super Smash season ticket is the main thing I’m excited about. Very unfortunate we couldn’t get India to play some tests here.

I mean usually we do have a feature tour, Australia, South Africa, England in recent years.

 

[Flem274*]

stop sulking about pitches and schedules and give sri lanka the credit they deserve. they were almost in the lead, they could well have been in the position to declare for a final session dare to dream moment.

 

[Hicheal Michael]

Didn't really learn anything this test re Nz's performance. Would be great to see Henry & Ferguson given a run in the test team.

Agree with the concerns with some of the pitches these days. Hamilton is one of the better pitches imo, low crowd numbers up that way though.

 

[YorksLanka]

brilliant result for us considering how far behind the game we were..great effort from Angie and especially KM- I know I had slated him in the past but only for his shot selections rather than ability; this innings shows what talent he has considering he is only 23 and has already scored 6 test match centuries..

 

[The Hutt Rec]

stop sulking about pitches and schedules and give sri lanka the credit they deserve. they were almost in the lead, they could well have been in the position to declare for a final session dare to dream moment.

Mendis and Mathews were amazing! Don't think anyone is arguing with that.

 

[randycricfreak]

Classic murky drizzly day. The only interest this morning might be a few nose-to-tails and angry drivers on that road next to the Basin road.

GW Sri Lanka. Now go into the next match, bowl first, nip out an opener and strangle Williamson down the legside and start to dream of a series win.

SL's first overseas win came in NZ 1995 at Napier. That was eventually a series win of 1-0 in 3 games.

 

[randycricfreak]

stop sulking about pitches and schedules and give sri lanka the credit they deserve. they were almost in the lead, they could well have been in the position to declare for a final session dare to dream moment.

wicket was pretty flat. yeah.

But I thought batting from Mendis and Mathews was exceptional.

We were down and out at 16/3 staring at a massive deficit and two more days to bat on.

The bowling lineup had Southee, Boult, and Wagner all of whom are pretty good att their own backyard. I think SL batted exceptionally well. After all this was the team that lost to England 3-0 at home recently.

 

[randycricfreak]

TBH NZ would have been better off with some pacer. SL is known to struggle against decent pace.

Any chance of Ferguson making his debut?

 

[Migara]

SL's first overseas win came in NZ 1995 at Napier. That was eventually a series win of 1-0 in 3 games.

That is when we had a left arm seamer who was bending the ball back to batsmen at brisk fast medium and a crafty off break bowler were togther.

 

[Days of Grace]

That was a 2-test series. New Zealand were at a very low ebb that centenary season.

Any clue as to who was the coach? This was post-Howarth and pre-Turner.

 

[Maximas]

And at this stage, SL are at a pretty low ebb (although the batting has shown a bit of promise so far) with the incumbent spinner both old and not that good and the fast bowlers are as pedestrian as ever (handy at times but never going to win matches against good opposition).

NZ have put together one of the strongest teams they ever have arguably, would be quite the disaster if SL walked away with a win in the 2nd test really

 

[The Hutt Rec]

That was a 2-test series. New Zealand were at a very low ebb that centenary season.

Any clue as to who was the coach? This was post-Howarth and pre-Turner.

I think John F Reid had the reigns in between those two, didn’t he? As an interim.