New Zealand versus Sri Lanka Test Series, 2024

2nd Test

Day-2 Afternoon Session Highlights:

Kamindu Mendis has scored his fifth Test century against the New Zealand team in the second test

At The Tea of Day-2:

Sri Lanka scored 519/5 vs New Zealand.

Kamindu Mendis scored his fifth Test century in just his 13th innings, lighting up his hometown of Galle.

As he achieved his second consecutive ton in the series, Sri Lanka surged to a commanding total of 519 runs by the Tea interval on Day 2.

In a dominant display, New Zealand struggled to claim wickets, with Kusal Mendis contributing a half-century after Dhananjaya de Silva narrowly missed his by six runs.

The day began positively for the visitors when Glenn Phillips dismissed Angelo Mathews, who top-edged a sweep early on.

Mathews fell short of his century by 12 runs, but Kamindu was unstoppable, bringing up his record-breaking ton shortly after the Lunch break.

Following Mathews’ early dismissal, Kamindu and de Silva extended Sri Lanka’s strong batting performance with a 74-run partnership.

While Kamindu played cautiously in the first session, de Silva quickly found his rhythm, signaling his intent with a six off Phillips and using the sweep shot to earn boundaries, even inspiring Kamindu to attempt a reverse sweep.

Just as the duo began to dominate, De Silva became Phillips’ second wicket of the session, falling to a sweep just like Mathews.

Kamindu reached his milestone after the break but faced several close calls, surviving an LBW review, a missed stumping opportunity, and an overturned caught decision as the spinners started to extract some turn from the pitch.

However, alongside Kusal Mendis, he successfully turned the pressure back on the bowlers.

Whenever a lofted opportunity arose, Kamindu seized it confidently, which in turn boosted his partner’s confidence.

Kusal reached his fifty with a sequence of 4, 6, 4 against Phillips, skillfully manipulating the off-spinner’s lengths.

For New Zealand, Phillips remained a constant threat throughout the first session, occasionally generating significant drift to trouble the right-handers.

However, he too faced the brunt of the Mendis partnership, as they went into Tea with an unbeaten 117-run stand.