After restricting the tourists on 221 and posting 9 for 1 at the end of day 1, the Lankans found themselves in all sorts of trouble the next morning and were reduced to 50 for 5. All four wickets fell to seamers; Tim Southee accounted for Tharanga Paranavitana on the fourth ball of the day, before taking out night watchman, Suraj Randiv, and Thilan Samaraweera. Trent Boult, on the hand, dismissed the dangerous Kumar Sangakkara for 5.
"This morning they swung it considerably and more than we expected," Ford said. "It was a lovely clear morning and we didn't think it would move as much as it did, when they bowled. It perhaps did catch us a little bit by surprise."
Parity was finally restored by Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews, both of whom added a crucial 156 runs for the sixth wicket. The skipper went onto score 91, while his deputy ended on 79. Despite their impressive recovery effort, the Lankans managed a slender 26-run lead as the lower order failed to make that advantage count.
Prasanna Jayawardene scored just 4, while Nuwan Kulasekara added 8 to the team’s first innings total of 247. Both fell to the spin of Jeetan Patel before the final touches were put by Boult, who dismissed last man Shaminda Eranga.
Tim Southee ended with impressive figures of 4 for 46, while his new ball partner claimed 2 by conceding as many runs. Ford was disappointed by his side’s performance and attributed their poor outing to a lack of aggression. Day 2 ended with Kiwis posting 35 for the loss of Brendon McCullum.
"It's always easy to say that they could have played tighter, sitting on the sidelines, but everybody who watched closely realised they did bowl very well. It's a fine balance. If you can get a few balls away, it changes their length and once they change their length they don't swing it much.
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