At a glance

versus

(Dimuth Karunaratne 89; Matt Henry 3-44, Michael Bracewell 3-50) and (Karunaratne 51, Kusal Mendis 50).

spinner who was going to wear down an opposing batter on a good batting track, but Dhananjaya de Silva wasn’t prepared to grind it out either, and the tail did not wag.

Some wet weather forecasted for days four and five may have factored in captain Tim Southee enforcing the follow-on, while his bowling stocks were fresher than England’s when Ben Stokes’ decision to send the hosts back in last month backfired.

Big moment

Karunaratne had just brought up his second half-century in his second dig and in combination with Mendis looked like he may do enough to keep the Black Caps awake a little longer overnight.

But his opposition skipper drew a top-edge to a hook shot that Devon Conway judged well at midwicket in the final hour.

Second test, day three, Basin Reserve: New Zealand 580-4 dec Sri Lanka 164

113-2

Big picture

New Zealand have two days – amid expected weather interruptions – to take eight more wickets and end their home test season with far better results than what looked likely midway through the second match against England.