The Hindu : Sport : New Zealand ends season on a high

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 15, 2005

Sport

Sport

New Zealand ends season on a high

WELLINGTON: James Franklin took four wickets and Nathan Astle added three as New Zealand ended its longest season on a high here on Thursday, sealing an innings victory in four days over Sri Lanka in the second cricket Test.

New Zealand snuffed out fleeting late-order resistance to win the match by an innings and 38 runs and the two-Test series 1-0. The first Test at Napier was drawn.

It came after demoralising home and away Test and one-day losses to Australia.

New Zealand right-arm bowler Chris Martin took six for 54 earlier in the match.

Lou Vincent's double century on Wednesday at the Basin Reserve set up the victory, helping New Zealand to 522 for nine declared in its only innings and to a first-innings lead of 311 runs.

Sri Lanka was out for 211 batting first on a seaming wicket and threatened only briefly to make New Zealand bat again before its second innings ended Thursday at 273.

Tillakeratne Dilshan played a fighting hand, scoring 73 in two hours batting at No. 7 and sharing a 78-run partnership with Chaminda Vaas (38) to impede New Zealand's progress to victory.

Their partnership and the moderate contributions of nightwatchman Farveez Maharoof, who batted 2-1/2 hours for 36, and Kumar Sangakkara, who made 45, couldn't avert Sri Lanka's heavy defeat.

Martin's six wickets were his best figures in Tests and Vincent hammered home New Zealand's advantage with his highest first-class score.

New Zealand's longest domestic international season began when Sri Lanka first arrived in New Zealand for a tour that was tragically interrupted by the tsunami.

The Sri Lankan team was called home to a nation mourning the loss of more than 33,000 people, but returned to New Zealand to complete the delayed series.

Battered

In between, New Zealand played series against Australia at home and away, and was battered in Tests and one-day games.

``We hit the canvas a few times this season, we got up a few times,'' said New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming.

``We were getting pretty groggy towards the end but we knew we had one chance toward the end of the season to give the summer a bit of perspective.''

Sri Lanka was never at its best in the series and was missing strike bowlers Nuwan Zoysa and Muttiah Muralitharan.

``We have a lot of positives we can take from this tour and hopefully use them in tours to come,'' Sri Lankan captain Marvan Attapatu said. — AP

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