SL VS NZ - 1st Test, New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka, 2024

Sri Lanka are a formidable side at home and they’ve just reinforced that belief with this win. While their win in England was impressive, this one was quite clinical. They’ve found a new star in Kamindu Mendis and the batting revolved around him in the first innings before the seasoned veterans stepped up in the second. Their bowlers were always going to come to the party on a helpful and weary pitch so the real positive was their batting unit looking cohesive. Importantly, they’ve also grabbed some WTC points and they stay in the race for the final - albeit only marginally. Sri Lanka take the lead in the series and the second game is just a few days away. Galle is set to be the backdrop once more for what promises to be another superb game. Can New Zealand show spunk and level the series? The toss will prove crucial once again. Do join us on the 26th for all the action. For now, cheers and bye..

Dhananjaya de Silva - The win in England boosted our morale, we've the ability to win Tests and the boys are delivering now. Big partnerships always help win Tests in Galle (on the partnership between Karunaratne and Chandimal in the second innings), but we can improve in both our batting and bowling. We were talking about our lower order batting, stats tell that we've the lowest average and that's something we can work on. I wasn't expecting to bowl, but Ramesh (Mendis) wasn't at his best and I think I have the ability to take wickets, something I can use for the sake of the team.

Tim Southee - Good test match, tough place to come. Plenty of positives for us to take away but disappointed to lose. (On Ravindra) We’ve been excited for a while, we’ve seen glimpses back in New Zealand of what he’s capable of. On this wicket, it was a great effort. You look at any game and there are moments, we lost 5 wickets for not many in the first innings after being in a strong position. We could’ve got a few more out of the tailenders after the position we got ourselves in. Toss is very important in this part of the world, would’ve been great to make first use of a wicket like this. But as we saw, there’s no reason we couldn’t have come out here and won the game if we managed to get a bigger first innings lead.

Prabhat Jayasuriya | Player of the Match - Normally, I just do the basic things and mainly I don't experiment during the game. I like this Galle pitch. I just concentrate on bowling a consistent line and length, focus on that and get the results.

An excellent Test match this, there were great skills on display, particularly from the batters of both sides. It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on right from day one but the batters were patient, they deployed the right mix of caution and aggression and it was great to watch. New Zealand fought hard but as it turns out, the minefield at Galle was a little too tough for them to navigate. That said, they deserve plenty of credit because it could’ve been over much earlier had they not applied themselves with bat. There were some good knocks in the first innings as well and that 92 from Ravindra in the second innings was the undisputed highlight. He looked assured while playing his shots and wasn’t flustered by the numerous instances of the ball beating the bat. Unfortunately, he was fighting a lone battle but New Zealand’s latest sensation has once again shown why he’s rated so highly.

10:18 Local Time, 04:48 GMT, 10:18 IST: It was always going to be tough getting those 68 runs this morning, but New Zealand's hopes pinned on Rachin Ravindra, but the left-hander was dismissed very early and it took Sri Lanka a mere 23 balls to complete the formalities. Fair to say, they were always ahead of the game, but New Zealand will reflect on day 3, when they let go of a position of strength. At 255 for 4 and behind by a mere 50 runs, they were in a position to take a big first innings lead and then floundered. They did get a small lead, they kept fighting on, but they were always chasing the match from there on. Chasing 275, they needed a couple of big partnerships and those never came - Kane Williamson, Tom Latham and Tom Blundell, all got starts and all failed to sustain their innings longer. Rachin Ravindra fought hard for his 92, but it was never going to be enough

P Jayasuriya to William ORourke, out Bowled!! That's it, Sri Lanka win this Test by 63 runs and they go 1-0 up in the 2-match series. Lovely drift from Jayasuriya, came from wide of the crease and drifted it back into the right-hander - O'Rourke played the line, but he's beaten on the outside edge and the ball clipped the top of off-stump. No big celebrations as Sri Lanka complete back-to-back Test wins. William ORourke b P Jayasuriya 0(6)

P Jayasuriya to William ORourke, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

P Jayasuriya to William ORourke, no run, flighted delivery on off, O'Rourke leans across and defends

A leg slip, slip, gully and a short mid-off in place

P Jayasuriya to Ajaz Patel, 1 run, flighted delivery outside off, pushed into the gap behind square on the off-side for a single

P Jayasuriya to Ajaz Patel, no run, tossed up on middle and leg, blocked back at the bowler

A slip, leg slip and a FSL in place

Dhananjaya to William ORourke, no run, flighted delivery outside off, defended to the off-side

Dhananjaya to Ajaz Patel, 1 run, loopy delivery outside off, driven down to long-off for a single

Dhananjaya to Ajaz Patel, no run, pushed through on off, Ajaz presses half-forward in defence

Dhananjaya to Ajaz Patel, no run, slower and just outside off - Ajaz leans across and pushes it to the off-side

Dhananjaya to Ajaz Patel, no run, flighted delivery on middle and leg, Ajaz goes back and turns it onto the on-side

Dhananjaya to Ajaz Patel, no run, flatter and on the pads, nudged off the back-foot to the on-side

P Jayasuriya to William ORourke, no run, half-an-appeal for LBW, they think and DDS decides to review - was it boot first? No, came right off the middle of the bat and they've wasted their final review as well. Low full-toss from Jayasuriya and O'Rourke jammed it onto the off-side