“No matter how much they play against them [Sri Lanka]You watch them from the best seat in the house and see how they go about their business.”
In that context, for about 35 overs they witnessed a masterclass in how to navigate a sometimes slow surface. While rain in the first over of the day had ensured that any dryness on the pitch was mitigated, this was still not a completely batsman-friendly track.
Getting in was crucial, and this was demonstrated by Kusal Mendis and Avishka Fernando during a 206-run second-wicket stand off just 215 deliveries, one that effectively took the game away from the visitors.
“It was difficult to start as we saw, because after that great partnership between Fernando and Mendis, it was difficult for the boys to come in and score straight away,” Bracewell added. “Partnerships are obviously very important and we saw that partnership in the first innings of about 200 runs. I think that’s what changed the game.
“Most of the time it is obviously favorable here in Sri Lanka for spin, but the batsmen can still play well on those wickets and put you under pressure. And I think we probably saw that today. The batsmen played very well and we will continue to give different responses and bowling different things to the Sri Lankan batsmen throughout the series, to try to break those associations a little bit earlier.”
After Pathum Nissanka fell early, Mendis and Avishka ensured that the scoring rate remained stable at five to six runs an over, rotating the strike with the odd boundary. It was only closer to half of the entries that felt comfortable enough to come up. the score.
Between the start of the 23rd over and the end of the 28th over, they managed 52 runs, with the 200 coming in the 35th over. Sri Lanka at this point were well established, but the new batsmen who came in after Mendis and Avishka fell struggled to carry the marker to that 350 mark.
However, Sri Lanka, with their eventual 324 on the board, had done enough to ensure that even with a DLS adjustment, New Zealand had a challenging target of 221 from 27 overs. In their chase, New Zealand got off to an equally good start as the opening pair of Will Young and Tim Robinson scored 88 off just 80 deliveries. But once they dropped, the innings began to fall apart.
“I think we looked at the fine margins of when guys came out in our innings and stuff like that. And obviously there’s a little bit of scoreboard pressure, so the guys that came in had to get going right away.
“So that always makes it a challenge, but it’s part of the job of coming in that middle order. And obviously we didn’t do it well. But we’ll come back in a couple of days and we’ll be looking to resurrect that again.”
Among those who perhaps could have done more was Bracewell himself. He remained unbeaten on 34 off 32 balls, but with wickets falling at the other end he was left regretting what could have been.
“I think it was one of those where chasing 221 in 27 overs was always going to be a pretty tough task. I think we gave it a good chance but maybe we could have hit a few more shots through the middle as well.
“I’ll put my hand up and say I could have started the game a little bit earlier, but yeah, I just don’t think we timed the chase very well.”
