Paceman Dushmantha Chameera took career-best figures with aggressive short-pitched bowling to give Sri Lanka a slight advantage at the close of play on the second day of the second Test against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Saturday.

Doug Bracewell was unbeaten on 30 with Neil Wagner dismissed for 17 with two balls remaining in the day’s play as the hosts finished on 232 for nine, 60 runs behind Sri Lanka’s first innings of 292.

Chameera had sparked a top-order collapse shortly after lunch by taking three wickets in 13 balls before he returned to pick up two more after tea to end the day with figures of 5-47.
“We haven’t batted the way we would have liked and the way we should have,” New Zealand opener Martin Guptill told Radio Sport. “It was just one of those things that happens in cricket.

“Sri Lanka are allowed to bowl well and they did bowl very well for a period there. The guys couldn’t get through it as well as we would have liked.

“We are still in the game, a little bit behind the eight ball, but not very far.”

Chameera’s previous best had been 3-53 against Pakistan in Colombo in June and his spell after lunch had reduced the hosts to 89-4 before New Zealand’s lower order buckled down.

Mitchell Santner (38) and BJ Watling (28) thwarted Sri Lanka for 19 overs and just 40 runs for the sixth wicket before Santner got the thinnest of edges off Nuwan Pradeep through to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal after tea.