ANI
Galle
A trio of centuries by Kamindu Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis and a dominant bowling performance by spinners Prabath Jayasuriya and Nishan Peiris helped Sri Lanka seal the second Test against New Zealand by an innings and 154 runs to secure their first series win against Kiwis in 15 years.
The Island nation, who lost who lost the series to Kiwis away from home 2-0 in the 2022-23 season and drew the two-match series at home back in 2019 by 1-1, beat the 2021 ICC World Test Champions 2-0 and secured their first series win against them since 2009. In these 15 years, they lost three series, all away from home, and managed to draw two, both at home.
Opting to bat first, the only low point of Sri Lankan inning was dismissal of Pathum Nissanka for just one run. A triple delight followed for Lankan fans as stroke-filled centuries came from Dinesh Chandimal (116 in 208 balls, with 15 fours), Kamindu Mendis (182 in 250 balls, with 16 fours and four sixes) and Kusal Mendis (106 in 49 balls, with six fours and three sixes). It pushed SL to 602/5 declared in the first innings, batting for almost two days.
Glenn Phillips (3/141) was the pick of the bowlers for NZ.
Each of these centuries had some milestones associated with it. Chandimal joined the likes of Tilakrathne Dilshan, Marvan Athapattu, Dimuth Karunaratne, and Angelo Mathews to become the fourth-highest century-maker for Lanka in Tests, with 16 centuries each.
Kamindu continued his monumental run in Tests, tying with legendary Australian Don Bradman to reach the 1,000 Test runs mark in just 13 innings, the second-fastest by a batter and fastest by a Lankan.
ScorescColor:> Sri Lanka 602/5 (Kamindu Mendis 182, Dinesh Chandimal 116, Glenn Phillips 3/141) beat New Zealand 88
& 360 (Glenn Phillips 78,
Mitchell Santner 67, Nishan Peiris 6/170) by an innings
and 154 runs.
