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On Monday, September 23, Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand by 63 runs in the first Test of the two-match series at the Galle International Stadium in the morning session of fifth day’s play. With this vital victory, Sri Lanka have jumped to third place in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 standings, leap-frogging New Zealand, and now, they find themselves behind reigning champions Australia and the two-time finalists India.
After playing eight Test matches in the ongoing WTC 2023-25 cycle, Sri Lanka have registered four wins and four losses, which puts their PCT to 50%, better than New Zealand’s 42.85% PCT after winning just three and losing four of their seven Test matches since last summer. India are on top of the standings with 71.67% PCT due to winning seven, losing two, and drawing one out of 10 Test matches, while their nearest rivals are Australia with 62.50% PCT after winning eight, losing three, and drawing one in 12 Test matches over the last 15 months or so.
Sri Lanka defeat New Zealand by 61 runs to go 1-0 up in two-match Test series
For the unversed, after winning the toss, Dhananjaya de Silva, the captain of Sri Lanka, decided to bat first, and the hosts posted 305 runs on the board in their first innings, thanks mainly to the hundred for Kamindu Mendis, while William O’Rourke picked up a five-wicket haul for New Zealand. In response, the likes of Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, and Daryl Mitchell, scored fifties each, to help the Kiwis take a 35-run first innings lead despite the four-wicket haul for Prabath Jayasuriya.
In the all-important second innings, Sri Lankan top order batted exceptionally, with their experienced pros Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, and Angelo Mathews put together fifties each, to get up to 309 runs, setting up a tough target of 275 runs on a spin-friendly pitch. In the run chase, New Zealand weren’t able to string together any partnership of substance with only Rachin Ravindra batting through the majority of the innings with his 92 off 168.
But the batting exploits of the left-handed batter wasn’t enough as Prabath Jayasuriya took a five-wicket haul for Sri Lanka, to help bundle out New Zealand for 211 runs. The left-handed spinner was given the player of the match award for his nine wickets in the Test, which included his eighth five-wicket haul in just his 28th bowling innings, coming quite close to achieving the fourth 10-wicket match haul in the longest format of the game.
