Latham double-ton, Southee double-strike in New Zealand masterclass

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The home side are seven wickets away from taking a 1-0 lead in the series.

Latham’s effort headlined a strong batting performance that took New Zealand to 578 and gave them a first-innings lead of 296 on Monday, 17 December, the third day of the Test in Wellington. Their pacers then immediately had Sri Lanka on the mat, reducing them to 20/3 by the end of the day, with Tim Southee scalping two.

Latham’s monumental knock of 264* extended across 489 balls. It included 21 fours and one six. It is the highest score by anyone in Tests carrying their bat, going past Alastair Cook’s 244*.

Having begun the day on 121 runs, Latham steadily accumulated, bringing out some classy drives and holding down one end through useful partnerships with the middle order. A flick to mid-wicket in the 135th over of the innings marked his double-century.

He might well have gone on to get more, but ran out of partners as the innings folded in 157.3 overs.

When Lahiru Kumara sent back Ross Taylor in the first over of the day, Sri Lanka’s spirits might have been lifted, but there was no respite for them. Henry Nicholls ensured that all of the New Zealand top five crossed 40, as he brought up a half-century of his own.

The tourists stuck twice in quick succession after lunch, but that only brought on the hard-hitting Colin de Grandhomme. Surviving a streaky start, he struck three fours and as many sixes before falling just short of a fifty.

The last two wickets added 58 runs, with Latham doing much of the work, even as Trent Boult swung his bat.

Boult then returned to make Sri Lanka’s difficult task harder, trapping Danushka Gunathilaka in front of the wicket. The very next over, Southee found movement to castle Dhananjaya de Silva, and then went on to end Dimuth Karunaratne’s stay with a short one.

Kusal Mendis (5*) and Angelo Mathews (2*) have their task cut out for them.