The Hindu : Kiwis confident of series triumph in Sri Lanka

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 01, 2003

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Sport - Cricket

Kiwis confident of series triumph in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO APRIL 30. Having buried the spin demons that were playing on their minds, New Zealand cricketers on Wednesday appeared confident of chasing their first series triumph in Sri Lanka in two decades.

The Kiwi batsmen might have killed any chance of producing a result in the series opener that ended in a draw on Tuesday through their dour batting and survival-first attitude, but skipper Stephen Fleming feels it helped to boost his young team's confidence of battling Sri Lanka's spinners, particularly the lethal Muttiah Muralitharan.

Muralitharan's 19 wickets in three Tests sent New Zealand crashing to a 2-1 series defeat after winning the opening Test during its last visit to the emerald island in 1998.

``We came over with a lot of young players and have gained experience in the match. It may have put to bed some of our demons against the wizard of Murali,'' said Fleming, who had a fruitful outing and created a New Zealand milestone for most runs in a Test match.

Denying himself the chance of scoring New Zealand's first triple century by declaring New Zealand's first innings when he was batting on 274 to let his bowlers have a go at the Sri Lankan batsmen, Fleming again kept the rival spinners at bay for five hours during his unbeaten 69 on the concluding day to ensure against a Kiwi collapse.

Finishing with a match aggregate of 343, he eclipsed former skipper Martin Crowe's 12-year old record of 329 runs in a Test match — against Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1991.

``The preparation for playing Murali paid dividends and I'm now confident in my technique how to play him,'' said Fleming, who last week dubbed Muralitharan as the ``biggest strikepower'' in world cricket.

Led by Fleming's example, the New Zealand batsmen blunted Muralitharan by restricting their strokeplay and presenting a straight bat to every delivery.

Muralitharan still managed to bag five wickets — two in the first innings and three in the second — but they came after New Zealand had smothered Sri Lanka's chances of clinching victory in its first home Test in one year.

``My height and reach is an advantage and I've done a lot of work mentally on how I would play him, but others need to work out the technique that works best for them,'' Fleming said on Wednesday as the Black Caps began focusing on the second Test in Kandy, which begins on Saturday.

``There's still work to do on in our technique, but we're all the better for playing him,'' he said.

New Zealand, which has a 7-4 edge in Test encounters, has not won a Test series in Sri Lanka since a 2-0 triumph in the first series between the two countries two decades ago.

Fleming said two nervous teams dashed any chance of result in the series opener, but the pitch had a role to play.

``It was too good a batting track, and you had two nervous teams that were not willing to take too many risks in the first Test,'' he said.

Sri Lanka's new skipper Hashan Tillekeratne acknowledged that the home team had to follow the example set by New Zealand in its first knock, and there was little left for it other than get some serious batting practice.

Tillekeratne scored a century in his first innings since being elevated to the captaincy in the wake of Sanath Jayasuriya's resignation, which helped Sri Lanka avoid the embarrassment of being forced to follow-on.

``The batsmen didn't find it easy to come back after we'd conceded over-500 runs, but they managed to stick to the game plan,'' Tillekeratne said.

``The century I got was very pleasing but others batted well around me ... it helped me go on to post a big score,'' he said. ``Our first target was to avoid the follow-on and we managed that.''

The Sri Lankan squad: Hashan Tillekeratne (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Michael Vandort, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandana, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Chaminda Vaas, Prabath Nissanka, Dharshana Gamage and Muttiah Muralitharan.

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