Kane Williamson. (Photo Source: Twitter)
After a steady start on rain-affected Day 1, New Zealand completely stole the show on Day 2 of the second Test against New Zealand. The duo of Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls absolutely decimated the Lankan bowlers with their 363-run partnership as the Tim Southee-led side stands on top of the visiting side after their brilliant batting performance.
Notably, batting at number three, Williamson registered his sixth double-century in the longest format of the game. The 32-year-old was at his very best, scoring 215 runs off 296 deliveries while his partner Henry Nicholls registered his first double-century in red-ball cricket. Courtesy of their phenomenal partnership, New Zealand posted 580 runs on board as they declared after 123 overs.
Interestingly, this was also the first time when two New Zealand cricketers smashed a double century in the same innings. Sri Lankan bowlers were clueless as none of their plans really worked in the middle. After their terrific performance in the first Test, it was expected that the Dimuth Karunaratne-led side will once again pose a lot of threat in the second match, but that hasn’t been the case so far. Notably, with the ball, Kasun Rajitha picked up two wickets while Dhananjaya de Silva and Prabath Jayasuriya picked one each.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka had a very poor start with the bat as well. Matt Henry dismissed opener Oshada Fernando for 6 runs while Doug Bracewell didn’t let Kusal Mendis open his tally. Currently, skipper Karunaratne is batting alongside Jayasuriya but none of them has looked very comfortable in the middle. Despite so, they would hope for a fresh start on Day 3 as the team has enough firepower to counter the Kiwi attack.
For New Zealand, they would hope to get another win under their belt and win their first Test series in almost two years. They have been brilliant with the ball so far as Sri Lanka were 26 for two after stumps on Day 2.
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