New Zealand are confident that they could get rid of the few cobwebs that resulted in their six-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in the first cricket Test at Galle and bounce back to level the two-match series at the P Sara Oval.
“We had a good training yesterday (Tuesday) - a good hit-out. It was nice and warm. It was one of the hottest days we’ve had since being here. The boys enjoyed getting out there and getting rid of a few cobwebs. We’re in a good space,” said New Zealand wicket-keeper/batsman Bradley-John Watling at the pre-match media conference yesterday.
“We’re very disappointed to lose that match (Galle). We got into positions where we felt like we could have won it, but we let ourselves down a fraction. We felt like we played some very good cricket over the five days and hopefully we can be that little bit better for this game,” he said.
“We just lost some key phases of that game. We know it’s tough to play in subcontinent conditions. Things can take a while to happen, but then all of a sudden you get those bang-bang wickets. It’s the same when we’re batting - you can lose wickets in clumps. For me it’s about taking that a little bit deeper.
“We had a few good starts in that first innings, and we probably should have score 350 on that surface. We just let Sri Lanka back in the game through those periods. We did that throughout the Test match, which cost us. So those are the sorts of things we’ll be looking to rectify,” Watling said.
New Zealand were guilty of dropping a few catches at crucial stages of the game in the second innings that may have cost them the match and Watling was one of them.
“No one’s trying to drop a catch or miss anything. I still look back on those chances and they are pretty tough ones. Sometimes they stick and sometimes they don’t. We have to give a lot of credit to Sri Lanka’s batsmen - especially that opening partnership. They took it deep enough to win that Test match. Hopefully in this Test we can look to make some more inroads through that top order and hopefully put that middle order under more pressure,” said Watling.
“We bowled really well in that first innings. We put Sri Lanka under a lot of pressure. Even in the second innings - we would have liked to take ten wickets and to have won the game - but we missed a couple of chances that could have changed the game, because you get two or three wickets in a clump, and all of a sudden you get a new batsman batting. It’s a completely different match. Our spinners bowled really well. They did ask a lot of good questions. There were things happening throughout that last innings. We just didn’t take those opportunities,” he said.
The last occasion New Zealand were here seven years ago they drew the two-Test series by winning at the P Sara Oval. New Zealand have not won a Test series in Sri Lanka since 1984 when Geoff Howarth’s team won the three-match series 2-0.
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