Kamindu, spinners lead Sri Lanka to Test series win over New Zealand

Six wickets from Nishan Peiris lead Sri Lanka to a win by an innings and 154 runs in the second Test at Galle.

Sri Lanka have beaten New Zealand by an innings and 154 runs in the second Test match and completed a 2-0 series sweep despite a late fightback from the tourists in Galle.

Debutant off-spinner Nishan Peiris took six wickets to seal the home side’s first series win against New Zealand in 15 years.

New Zealand were all out for 360 in their second innings before tea on Sunday, the fourth day of the Test, after being asked to follow on.

Peiris, 27, and fellow spinner Prabath Jayasuriya shared 18 wickets in the match, the latter taking 6-42 in the first innings to bundle out the tourists for just 88 after the hosts had amassed a mammoth 602-5 declared.

New Zealand’s lower order did put up some fight after resuming at 199-5, with Tom Blundell, Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner all making half-centuries.

Sri Lanka sealed the victory when Santner’s gritty resistance was finally broken, stumped by Kusal Mendis for 67 off Peiris.

Sri Lanka could have wrapped up the match and series in the morning session but for a succession of dropped catches.

The result leaves New Zealand winless from six Test appearances at Galle, with Sunday’s 360 their highest innings total at the venue.

Kamindu Mendis, whose unbeaten 182 powered Sri Lanka to a massive total (602-5) in the first innings, was adjudged player of the match.

Sri Lanka captain Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva said Mendis had significantly strengthened his team’s middle-order batting.

“I think Kamindu at five can play the long innings and I can finish the game at number six,” de Silva said.

Promoted to number three, Dinesh Chandimal also struck a century in further vindication of the team’s decision to rejig their batting order.

Kamindu, who made a century in the opening Test, became the fastest Asian to 1,000 Test runs by reaching the milestone in his 13th innings.

“I’m enjoying scoring runs, especially since Galle is my home town,” Kamindu said after collecting player-of-the-match award.

“It is a great pleasure to score 1,000 runs so quickly, but we have to improve day by day.”

New Zealand captain Tim Southee said playing two Tests at Galle, known as a spinner’s paradise, was always going to be challenging.

“It’s a tough place to come for a foreign team, and Sri Lanka played some great cricket,” Southee said after New Zealand slipped to seventh place in the World Test Championship (WTC) standings. New Zealand head to India for a three-match Test series beginning on October 16.