New Zealand v Sri Lanka 2nd Test Preview: NZ eyes 2-0 while visitors look to press the snooze button

Patumahoe soil will induce more bounce and pace and the clouds may wear the perfect look to push Brendon’s boys that extra yard. The Hamilton pitch has been spin friendly in recent times, but the look of the surface may not encourage the Sri Lankan’s this time. Having faced the wrath of the Kiwi batsmen, the visitors will have their task cut out on both fronts.

New Zealand

Batsmen who looked miserable in Australia have plundered runs in Dunedin. Bowlers who went wayward in front of the Aussie crowd are making the red leather talk amidst spirited cricket supporters in New Zealand. Captain Brendon McCullum’s forehead lines will be reduced to two as the batsmen have found form when mattered.

Both the openers had memorable outing during the first Test match, scoring centuries in alternate innings. Kane Williamson’s rich form with the bat must boost New Zealand’s confidence while the skipper will be happy with his tryst with the bat.

Neil Wagner did well to snatch the limelight on a surface where both Tim Southee and Trent Boult looked lethal. And spinner Mitchell Santner will be pleased to scalp 4 wickets in the match with an impressive economy. Clearly, New Zealand look set to clean sweep the series before the visitors can snooze the alarm.

Sri Lanka 

Having lost three matches against the hosts without much fight in the last 12 months, Angelo Mathews’ men can only stick to their basics and look to focus on sessions. Dimuth Karunaratne will take confidence from his impressive outing in the first game while Dinesh Chandimal’s fifties in both innings can be tagged as a bright spot in a rather dark tale.

The rest of the batters need to rally around these two and if skipper Mathews can chip in with an inspirational knock, then Sri Lanka can breathe a little easy.

Nuwan Pradeep can take heart from his 4-wicket haul in the first innings, as he stuck to his line and length and managed to pick both Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor. The visitors must aim at picking 20 wickets, and Rangana Herath’s role will be crucial.

He went wicket less in the first innings and picked up 2 wickets in the second innings. He was hammered for 10 boundaries and 3 sixes during the first Test and that wont go down as good news for the visitors. Skipper Mathews will have to put his thinking cap on and Sri Lanka will look to level the series to start the transition period on a good note.

Form 

New Zealand- W L D L W
 Sri Lanka- L W W L L

Stats:

• New Zealand has now been unbeaten in 12 consecutive home matches. If they win or draw the next tie, they will equal their longest unbeaten home streak, which had stretched from 1987 to 1991.
• Dushmantha Chameera was comfortably the fastest bowler in either team in Dunedin, hitting speeds of 146 kph.
• New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum will look to go one better than Adam Gilchrist and take the record for maximum Test sixes to his name. He is currently on 100 sixes from 98 Test matches.
• None of the last three games played at Seddon Park has gone into the fifth day. New Zealand lost two matches inside three days against Pakistan and South Africa and defeated West Indies on the fourth day in 2013.
• Kane Williamson became just the second New Zealand batsman to 1000 Test runs in a calendar year in Dunedin. His tally currently sits at 1063. If he scores 102 runs in the match, he will overtake Brendon McCullum’s 2014 tally to hold the New Zealand record for most runs in any year.

Squads- 

New Zealand:

Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum (C), Mitchell Santner, BJ Watling (wk), Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult

Sri Lanka (probable):

Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Udara Jayasundera,  Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Angelo Mathews (C), Kithuruwan Vithanage, Milinda Siriwardana, Rangana Herath, Dushmantha Chameera, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep

Also read: Brendon McCullum equals Gilchrist’s record of hundred sixes in Tests