Christchurch duo Latham and Nicholls share rides, runs and success

It's been a breakthrough year for the Christchurch duo. Tom Latham has scored 658 runs from seven matches at 59.81 including two massive hundreds, while Nicholls has scored just as many runs at an even better average of 73.11 with a total of three centuries.

It was only fitting then that their final hurrah for the year came at their home ground in each other's company. The two were together for a massive partnership of 214 runs and were at the crease to celebrate each other's centuries.

Latham scored a brilliant 176 to follow up his unbeaten 264 from the first Test in Wellington, while Nicholls remained unbeaten on 162 as New Zealand declared at 585/4, having set Sri Lanka a mammoth target of 660.

Nicholls lavished praise on Latham, citing his effort as an inspiration. "We're really great mates, we carpool every morning together to the ground.

"You look back at the 260 in Wellington and for him to come out yesterday in the second innings and basically hit reset and do all that hard work again is pretty cool. He's a very resilient guy and is one of the most hard-working guys I know. To see him have the discipline to do that for another 300 balls in this innings and to be out there batting with him was pretty special. He's a really inspirational guy and player.

"The way he batted yesterday and continued that on today like he did at the Basin last week gave me a lot of inspiration to try and do the same, and put us in a position where we're now in a chance to win the game with a lot of time left."

The New Zealand batting coach Craig McMillan – also a Christchurch native – was thrilled about the growth the two batsmen had displayed in the calendar year.

"There's been a lot of development from both those players. They're two guys that love batting and love spending time at the crease. That's pretty important as a Test batsman. You have to be prepared to bat time. You have to have discipline around a gameplan.

"I think both those players showed that they're prepared to let balls go. They are prepared to be patient in their areas to score from. They did that over a long period of time. That was part of their success."

New Zealand reduced Sri Lanka to 24/2 at stumps and have two whole days to close out a special year of Test cricket for them.