WELLINGTON: Devon Conway struck a blistering half-century to put New Zealand on top at 155-2 when play was abandoned due to bad light on a blustery, rain-hit opening day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Wellington on Friday.

The stolid opener’s 78 from 108 balls on a grassy pitch gave the hosts a flying start after Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and elected to field at the Basin Reserve.

In-form number three Kane Williamson was 26 not out, with Henry Nicholls on 18, the pair having built a 37-run stand for the third wicket before stumps was called about 20 minutes early.

After New Zealand took a 1-0 series lead in a final-ball thriller in Christchurch, the second Test started more with a whimper than a bang as rain washed out the entire first session.

Only 48 overs were bowled and gale-force winds hammered the ground throughout, blowing off the bails and causing the umpires to chase down their hats across the turf.

Karunaratne had hoped his seamers could grab early wickets but the wind proved as big a test as New Zealand’s openers, who put on an 87-run partnership before Tom Latham pulled Kasun Rajitha straight to Prabath Jayasuriya to be caught for 21.

Conway sailed past his half-century but was caught and bowled by spin-bowling all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva.

“I was gutted, absolutely gutted when I got out when I did,” said Conway. “I put in all the hard work ... Those are sort of the ones you want to kick on and make the most of.”

Sri Lanka went with three rather than four seam bowlers but had little assistance from the wicket.

“Certainly today was probably the windiest I’ve played at the Basin,” added Conway. “It certainly was a bit of a challenge for them, we took note of that as batters and tried to put them under as much pressure as we could.”

Sri Lanka made one change from the team that lost the first Test on the final ball in Christchurch, with wicketkeeper Nishan Madushka making his debut in place of Niroshan Dickwella.

New Zealand were forced into a single switch with seamer Doug Bracewell playing his first Test since 2016, replacing Neil Wagner, who tore a hamstring in the first Test. It is the first time Bracewell has played a Test match alongside his cousin Michael.

New Zealand are chasing a third straight Test win.

SCOREBOARD

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings):

T. Latham c Jayasuriya b Rajitha21

D. Conway c & b de Silva78

K. Williamson not out26

H. Nicholls not out18

EXTRAS (LB-10, NB-1, W-1)12

TOTAL (for two wkts; 48 overs)155

FALL OF WICKETS:1-87 (Latham), 2-118 (Conway).

BOWLING: Rajitha 16-3-42-1, Fernando 12-4-33-0, Kumara 10-1-49-0, De Silva 8-3-18-1, Jayasuriya 2-0-3-0

SRI LANKA: O. Fernando, D. Karun­ar­atne, K. Mendis, A. Mathews, D. Chan­di­mal, D.de Silva, N. Madushka, K. Rajitha, A. Fernando, P. Jayasuriya, L. Kumara.

UMPIRES: Richard Illingworth (Eng­land) and Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand).

TV UMPIRE: Michael Gough (England).

MATCH REFEREE: Richie Richardson (West Indies).

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2023