Kane Williamson, Henry Nicholls, Tim Southee help New Zealand clean-sweep Sri Lanka in Test series

By India Today Sports DeskNew Zealand completed a clean sweep of Sri Lanka in the Test series, defeating the Lankan team by an innings and 58 runs in the second Test match. New Zealand completed their victory on Day 4 of the Test match, courtesy of three wickets from pacers Tim Southee and Blair Tickner.

The charge however was led once again by Kane Williamson, who had secured an unlikely victory for the hosts in the opening Test match of the series, diving for the final run in the last ball of the game. The centurion from the first game hit a double hundred in the only time he came out to bat in the second Test match, helping NZ reach a mammoth total of 580 runs.

New Zealand vs Sri Lanka, 2nd TestAs it Happened

Williamson was duly awarded the player of the series for his contributions. Henry Nicholls was given the player of the match award for his maiden double hundred in the first innings in the second Test match.

In the second Test match, New Zealand bowlers ran the show with Matt Henry taking control of the game in the first innings where Sri Lanka were bundled out for just 164 runs. Sri Lanka fought better in the second innings and scored 358, but fell far behind of posting a lead in the final Test match.

New Zealand completed their third test win in succession after claiming the thrilling series-opener by two wickets on the last ball in Christchurch and beating England by one run in another cliffhanger in Wellington.

Sri Lanka’s hopes of a first win in the country since 2006 all but ended when their batters managed only 164 in reply to New Zealand’s declared first innings total of 580 for four.

Sri Lanka batters failed to counter the short ball in the second innings and threw away their wickets despite finding starts. Four Sri Lanka batters reached their half centuries, with Dhananjaya de Silva coming closest to a hundred. He fell for 98 against all-rounder Michael Bracewell handing an inside edge to short leg.

It was a brave showing by Sri Lanka’s batters after their calamitous first innings, but most of the specialists will rue their shot selection after making solid starts.

Captain and opener Dimuth Karunaratne top-edged a pull off Southee to be out for 51 late on day three, while number three Kusal Mendis also pulled at a short ball off Matt Henry to be out for 50 first thing in the morning.

Dinesh Chandimal scored 62 before top-edging Tickner, who finished with 3-84 for the innings.