Wellington: Trent Boult (3/77) and Neil Wagner (4/48) quickly wrapped up Sri Lanka’s second innings as New Zealand clinched the series 1-0 with a dominant 423- run victory in the second Test here Sunday.
Boult trapped Dushmantha Chameera in front after only 10 minutes of play on the fifth day. With the first match in Wellington ending in a damp draw, Sunday’s victory saw the hosts win a fourth successive Test series for the first time.
The victory was even more impressive given New Zealand had been reduced to 64 for six on the first day, before Tim Southee produced a counter-attacking innings of 68 that pushed their total through to 178.
Southee then blasted the top off Sri Lanka’s reply, reducing them to 21 for three. The performance on the first day earned him man of the match honours.
Boult followed up Southee’s cameo with a stunning burst of six wickets on the second day, which swung the game in their favour as they took a 74-run lead.
New Zealand’s batsmen all got starts in their second innings with Tom Latham (176) and Henry Nicholls (162 n o) notching their first centuries on their home ground as Williamson declared at 585 for four.
Sri Lanka put up a stronger second innings performance as they sought to either grind out an improbable 660 runs for victory, or bat for more than two days to save the game. Their resistance was broken late on the fourth day.
After they had battled through to 231 for six at stumps the tourists faced the prospect of having their top batsman Angelo Mathews not appearing again after he retired hurt with a hamstring injury.
Brief scores: New Zealand 178 and 585/4 decl bt Sri Lanka 104 and 236 (Trent Boult 3/77) by 423 runs.