Openers Dimuth Karunaratne (52*) and Lahiru Thirimanne (23*) put on an unbeaten 76-run stand, denying New Zealand any wickets for 32 overs, reports ESPN.
Sri Lanka took a giant stride towards chasing down 268 with a wicketless post-lunch session from their openers on the fourth day. Will Somerville and Mitchell Santner bowled long spells searching for the breakthrough, but the settled opening pair milked the bowlers, cutting them square or flicking them through the leg side.
Thirimanne, in particular, was challenged early on, but he came out of his shell after the drinks interval. A Santner over where Thirimanne attempted a reverse sweep was the moment where he finally broke free, after which he batted more freely.
Karunaratne enjoyed the second-half of the session too, hitting the innings' first boundary in the 22nd over. Karunaratne hit one more four, in the session's final over, but sandwiched between those boundaries were numerous twos that kept the scoreboard ticking.
Earlier, New Zealand started the day looking to extend a 177-run lead with three wickets in hand. On the evening before, Tom Latham had declared at the post-match press conference that the visitors would be happy setting any total above 200. However, a dogged batting effort from their lower-order batsmen ensured New Zealand went well past that mark, setting Sri Lanka a tricky chase of 268. The highest chase in Galle is 99. But the way, Sri Lanka's openers started, it seemed like they learnt a thing or two from the efforts displayed by the trio of Watling, Somerville and Trent Boult before lunch.
Watling and Somerville frustrated Sri Lanka after a 35-minute rain delay to the start of the day. Starting the day on 195 for 7, they were unperturbed with the Sri Lanka pacers who were bowling with the old ball, so it wasn't long before Karunaratne opted for the new one. That worked in New Zealand's favour as runs started to flow, with Watling steadily beginning to give Somerville more strike.
Somerville repaid the faith Watling showed, by picking the gaps off bad deliveries and bunting the good ones and successfully negating the spin threat that Lasith Embuldeniya and Akila Dananjaya brought on a turning surface. Watling found the occasional boundary off the pace bowlers, using his back-foot shots particularly well to punch balls that weren't short enough.
While facing spin, he used his feet to mess with the bowler's lengths.
That's not to say Sri Lanka's bowlers weren't up to the mark. Suranga Lakmal found the length ball to seam the ball in, and it whizzed past batsmen's outside edge on a couple of occasions. Elbudeniya and Dananjaya had a few close lbw shouts too, but it was Lahiru Kumara who finally broke the 46-run stand that seemed to have taken the game away from Sri Lanka. He found a length ball that jagged away after hitting the deck, and it found Watling's outside edge. His crucial 77, though, had taken New Zealand's lead past 200.
Boult then joined Somerville, and a period of entertaining cricket ensued. Boult moved around the crease to nudge short balls away for four or danced down the track to swipe them over midwicket, forcing Sri Lanka to go on the defensive. The big gaps then meant Somerville comfortably went into his thirties by picking the ones and twos, while Boult kept the hosts on their toes. When he finally fell, trying to ramp one over third man, the duo had added a further 36 runs.
By then, though, Somerville had gone past his highest first-class score and in No. 11 Ajaz Patel's company, began to farm the strike. But that wasn't particularly needed as Patel nudged the spinners around for singles before crunching a slog-sweep off Dhananjaya de Silva for four. Patel, however, was soon out lbw trying to defend de Silva, leaving Somerville ten short of a maiden first-class fifty. But New Zealand's last three wickets had added 90 valuable runs.
Score (Day 4): New Zealand 249 and 285; Sri Lanka 267 and 77 (Karunaratne 52*, Thirimanne 23*); Sri Lanka trial by 192 runs.
