Sri Lanka’sTour Of New Zealand

New Zealand in control here at 253-4 when bad light stopped play. Lou Vincent unbeaten on 79 and a welcome return to form for Fleming (batting at 6 !) , not out on 60. Digressing for a moment , it's very late in the season in the southern hemisphere now - especially in NZ . Here in SA and in Australia it's noticeably cooler , but still decent conditions for cricket. However in NZ , where it's more Englishlike climatic conditions it's the northern hemisphere equivalent of October!

    The official reason for coming off was , as I said , bad light - the truth was , it was too foggy! Cricket seasons are being stretched to the very limits nowadays - I'm not saying that's a bad thing , but I do believe start times could be much earlier.

   Anyway , Vaas has taken all 4 wickets to fall and has figures of 24-8-69-4 , a terrific performance from a fine bowler.

    Even if there's no further play today ( 16 overs remain) a result is still on the cards and NZ must be feeling good about their chances.

Well bowlers seem to have picked up a trend in this Test of picking up all the early wickets themselves (individually) and VAAS now has the entire top 6 (of 6 to fall) of the NZ top order. More records to follow suit? He already has the best ever One Day bowling figures and even though with this lot he won't get the best ever Test figures he may set a few somewhat lesser records if you will.

Though as likely as it looked of their being a result that may be a bit premature as the rains have made this a very stop start affair.

Yeah spot on lunch has been taken now. More interruptions are set but i would still favor NZ and a few more records could go yet in this match.

NZ really in the driving seat now and the only thing that i can think that will stop them from getting the win in the match and subsequently the series is the weather. They have the pacemen to do the job on that sort of a pitch and the batsmen have now certainly done their part. Great knock by Vincent and Flemming with another 50 in this series so maybe he is getting some form back all be it lower down the order. I would expect NZ to finish Sri Lanka off now ever with Sri Lanka's great ability to bat for such long periods of time and post such huge totals i don't think on a pitch like this they can weather the storm.

Originally posted by Tailender My guess is that NZ may miss Vettori, but if ever there was an opportunity for Wiseman to put in a match-winning performance, this is it.

Quite right Tailender , but Wiseman hasn't come to the party at all! 26-7-75-0 just doesn't cut it huh. Methinks NZ , SA , WI and Eng all have the same problem - a dirth of quality spinners. Without Vettori , NZ's cupboard is bare , SA use Boje because the rest are dire (Adams can't hit the square anymore , nevermind a length!). WI rely on G ayle , who maybe is a touch underrated , but isn't someone who any decent bat is going to have sleepless nights over. Then England have Giles , who makes the most of what he has , a great trier , brilliant team man , but certainly no Jim Laker! Graham Swann is probably his biggest threat , but Giles's batting has improved enormously and is a good enough reason to hold down his place. (being Vaughan's best pal helps a bit too! )

    But I digress !! The match is practically over as the 9th wicket has just fallen , Chandana bowled Astle for 8 and Sri Lanka are now 267/9 , still 44 runs behind. There's 13 overs remaining in the day , but even the light shouldn't prevent a finish today. Malinga joins Chaminda Vaas , who's unbeaten on 32 - another solid batting performance from the man.

    Wickets for Martin (1) Mills (2) Astle (3) Franklin (3) . Good return for Nathan Astle , his little seamers doing a useful job getting through the lower order. Wiseman , not surprisingly has bowled more overs than anyone else without success.

     Malinga shouldn't mallinger for too long methinks , we still might see a few lusty blows from Vaas before the curtain comes down

      Good performance by NZ and huge disappointment for the Sri Lankans.

Good well earned victory for NZ in the end and the fast bouncy pacey pitch is what they needed in the end. Well done to them for winning the atch and the series and now time for the one Dayers.

Originally posted by Tailender I'm surprised Sri Lanka folded so quickly - it looks as if they just gave up. They really did miss Murali in this series, with NZ posting first-innings totals of 500-plus each time,

   More outplayed methinks Tailender. Vaas had a fine match , but Murali was badly missed.

   The one day's could be interesting though , unless the Sri Lankan's have had enough...

Yeah part of the series was played before the Sri Lankans left to go back home and it does count to being part of the overall series result. Only what is left is still to be played (i know it seems obvious when stated like that) and of what was already played NZ absolutely thrashed Sri Lanka.