Sri Lanka counterattack despite faltering against short-ball ploy

Half-centuries by Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya De Silva notwithstanding, New Zealand maintained a dominant position at Lunch of Day 4 of the Basin Reserve Test, in Wellington. The hosts bagged three wickets in the morning session on Monday while Chandimal and Dhananjaya’s 126-run stand for the fifth wicket helped reduce the deficit to 167 as Sri Lanka attempted to revive their position in the contest.

Brief scores:(at lunch day 4)

Sri Lanka 164 (Dimuth Karunaratne 89; Matt Henry 3-44, Michael Bracewell 3-50) & 249/5 [f/o] (Dhananjaya de Silva 63*, Dinesh Chandimal 62; Blair Tickner 2-66) trail New Zealand 580/4 decl. (Kane Williamson 215, Henry Nicholls 200*; Kasun Rajitha 2-126) by 167 runs