WELLINGTON: A world record sixth-wicket partnership of 365 by Kane Williamson and B.J. Watling, who both posted career-best scores, slammed the door on Sri Lanka in the second Test here at the Basin Reserve on Tuesday.

Williamson’s unbeaten 242, with Watling 142 not out, rescued New Zealand from a deep hole and carried them to 524-5 declared in their second innings.

Sri Lanka were left facing a 390-run final-day target on a ground where the record for a successful fourth innings chase is 277-3 set by Pakistan 11 years ago.

At stumps, Sri Lanka were 45-1 with Kaushal Silva on 20 and Dhammika Prasad on one.

Dimuth Karunaratne was out for 17 four overs before the close, the only dismissal of the day.

With wickets hard to come by on a flat track, and Sri Lanka holding middle-order strength led by Kumar Sangakkara, a draw seemed the likely outcome. This would give New Zealand the two-Test series 1-0.

Williamson and Watling came together as New Zealand’s last recognised batsmen with the score on 159-5, a perilous 24-run lead. They methodically ground the Sri Lankan bowlers into submission over the following eight hours.

Williamson said their focus was on occupying the crease to save New Zealand and records were secondary.

“We needed to draw on that to bat as long as we did. That was very much the motivating factor. Talk about 100s or 200s, it’s great to get them but more important to keep going to put the team in a better position,” he said.

Sri Lanka need a further 345 on the final day to win.

New Zealand declared 13 runs ahead of the previous sixth-wicket record of 352 set by Watling with Brendon McCullum in similar Test-saving circumstances against India a year ago.

Then, as now, New Zealand were fighting to claim the series after winning the first Test.

Sri Lanka squandered several opportunities to break the partnership and regain control, and paid a heavy price for sloppy fielding.

Williamson offered four chances — dropped by Rangana Herath on 29, dropped by Nuwan Pradeep on 60 and dropped by Prasanna Jayawardene on 104 before Jayawardene missed a blatant stumping opportunity on 233.

Williamson’s unbeaten 242, the product of more than 10 hours at the crease, gave the 24-year-old his ninth Test century and the seventh highest score by a New Zealander.

KANE Williamson plays a stroke through the off-side during his marathon knock.—AFP

After cautiously steering New Zealand into a commanding position, Williamson opened up towards the end of the innings, scoring 52 of the 79 added in the 15 overs before the declaration.

In his marathon innings he faced 438 deliveries and scored 18 fours, including a boundary to midwicket when he danced down the wicket to bring up his maiden 200 off Rangana Herath.

While Williamson steered New Zealand to safety, Watling proved a sound ally at the other end as he brought up his fourth century. He had nine fours and a six in his 142.

His previous best was 124 in his match-saving knock with McCullum against India.

As the innings progressed the Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews set defensive fields in hopes the batsmen would make a mistake, but when the chances came they were not taken.

Herath, the leading bowler in the world last year with 60 wickets at 24.85, finished with figures of one for 154.

Sri Lanka’s most successful bowler Pradeep had figures of three for 117 after being three for 32 before Watling went to the middle.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings) 221 (K. Williamson 69; N. Pradeep 4-63, S. Lakmal 3-71) SRI LANKA (1st Innings) 356 (K. Sangakkara 203, D. Chandimal 67; J. Neesham 3-42, D. Bracewell 3-93)

NEW ZEALAND (2nd Innings, overnight 253-5):

T. Latham c Jayawardene b Pradeep35 H. Rutherford c Chandimal b Pradeep40 K. Williamson not out242 R. Taylor b Herath0 B. McCullum lbw Prasad22 J. Neesham lbw Pradeep19 B. Watling not out142

EXTRAS (B-7, LB-7, W-4, NB-6)24

TOTAL (for five wickets decl, 172 overs)524

FALL OF WKTS: 1-75, 2-78, 3-79, 4-122, 5-159.

BOWLING: Lakmal 32-4-89-0 (1w); Pradeep 37-4-117-3 (5nb, 1w); Herath 56-8-154-1; Prasad 28-1-102-1 (1nb, 1w); Mathews 11-3-29-0; Thirimanne 8-1-19-0 (1w).

SRI LANKA (2nd Innings):

D. Karunaratne c Rutherford b Craig17 K. Silva not out20 D. Prasad not out1

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-2, W-1)7

TOTAL (for one wkt, 17 overs)45

FALL OF WKT:1-42.

BOWLING (to-date): Boult 7-0-21-0; Southee 4-3-4-0; Bracewell 2-0-11-0 (1w); Craig 2-2-0-1; Rutherford 1-0-2-0; Williamson1-0-1-0.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2015

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