Sri Lanka dominates as New Zealand face likely innings defeat

New Zealand is on the cusp of losing to Sri Lanka by an innings in the second cricket Test match between the two sides in Galle.

Saturday was a horror day for the visitors, after Sri Lanka spent the majority of the first two days piling on the runs.

After the hosts eventually declared at 602/5, the Kiwis promptly came to the crease and folded for just 88 runs.

With Sri Lanka enforcing the follow-on, the Black Caps lost another five wickets before stumps on day three, taking them through to 199/5 with a deficit of 315 runs still.

Cricket bookmakers have Sri Lanka at -4000 to win the Test and New Zealand at +30000 to pull off what would be a remarkable comeback.

At the crease when play resumes on Sunday are Glenn Philips (32) and Tom Blundell (47), who were New Zealand’s best on an otherwise bleak day.

The pair have put on 78 runs so far for the sixth wicket, at healthy strike rates of 78 and 94 as well.

Blundell reflected on Sri Lanka’s performance after the end of day three, highlighting how impressive the home side was in the field.

“I thought it was just one of those days where they caught very well,” said Blundell on Saturday.

“I thought the way that they caught and the way that they fielded was pretty outstanding most of the time.”

He also unpacked some of what went wrong for his team with the bat, as none of the top eight batsmen made more than 13 runs in the first innings.

“Obviously the first innings wasn’t ideal,” he said.

“You know, things happen pretty quickly over here.

“If you look at the Sri Lankan outfit, they’re a very good team.

“The way their spinners operate, they’re very good in their conditions.

“We went into that first innings with the same mindset as a batting unit.

“It just didn’t really work out, I guess.”

New Zealand’s best chance in Galle is likely a draw if they can bat through at least the next four sessions.

Even that is seen as a long shot by Bet365 though, with odds of +1600 for the Kiwis to dig out a draw from this point.

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