Date-stamped : 09 Apr97 - 06:23 ===> Preview (The Christchurch Press) 14 March 1997 Davis's Fitness Sparks Dilemma by Geoff Longley Wellington speedster Heath Davis looks likely to spearhead the New Zealand bowling attack in the second BNZ test against Sri Lanka today, leaving team management with a selection dilemma. Davis bowled the equivalent of seven overs at speed last night in the nets, pronounced himself fit and team physiotherapist Mark Plummer rated his playing chances as 95 per cent. Had Davis been unfit with the achilles tendon trouble which flared during the first test at Carisbrook, it would have made deciding the final 11 more straightforward. "The only thing with such injuries is that they can tighten up overnight, so we will see how he goes before play in the morning," Plummer said. Davis said he was untroubled by the injury and felt better the more he bowled. The pitch has the experts guessing about what might be the best balanced side to take into the match. This season the Trust Bank Park strip has seamed about and produced low-scoring result games, but the block has also has a history of taking spin, albeit slow. New groundsman Ian McKendry, formerly from Lancaster Park, has shaved more grass off this time than for Shell Trophy matches, and with fine weather forecast there must be a temptation to include both slow bowlers, Daniel Vettori and Dipak Patel. Sri Lanka's high number of left-hand batsmen also enhances Patel's claims. Sri Lanka's off-spin "freak", Muttiah Muralitharan, can turn it on anything and may pose problems for the home side. New Zealand has the seam bowling options of rookie Andrew Penn and experienced campaigner Gavin Larsen to choose from to offer support for swing bowler Simon Doull. With Chris Cairns unable to bowl, but being used with success in the tests as a specialist batsman, the balance of the side has been affected for Cairns would have solved the third seam bowler dilemma. Now the selectors face a possible repeat of Carisbrook where Matt Horne and Nathan Astle acted as stop-gap third seamers, but are better suited as fourth choice options. The pacy Penn is promising and his out-swingers offer wicket-taking potential, while Larsen, by virtue of his ability to contain, could frustrate the dashing Sri Lankan batsmen. Larsen may, however, follow the course of namesake "Cyclone Gavin" and slide south back to Wellington with the 13th man in the squad returning to his province for trophy play. Captain Stephen Fleming said bowling "dot" balls is a form of pressure against the Sri Lankans, who hated being tied down. The challenge now for New Zealand is to sustain its level of performance from the innings win of first test. New Zealand teams in recent years have been notorious for following a good effort with a poor one. The Sri Lankans, although still underdone in terms of match preparation, will feel more comfortable in the warmer climes of Hamilton and a considerably better effort is expected. Like New Zealand, Sri Lanka will wait until match morning before naming its side, though it will not differ much from the team it played in Dunedin. Meanwhile, match referee Peter Burge is ruling that balls trapped between bat or glove and pad will be dead for the remainder of the series. This follows an incident in Dunedin when Romesh Kaluwitharana was dismissed when the ball jammed between glove and pad and was lifted out by a fielder, who claimed the catch. Zimbabwe umpire Ian Robinson, who had never been confronted by such a situation in his 20 years umpiring, ruled the batsman out. However, Burge, after consulting the International Cricket Council, has decided the ball will be dead to get some consistency in interpretation. In this test Pakistani Mahboob Shah is standing with Doug Cowie. Source :: The Christchurch Press (http://www.press.co.nz) ===> Day 3 (The Christchurch Press) 17 March 1997 Dice Loaded In Favour Of New Zealand by Geoff Longley New Zealand is poised to post its second consecutive cricket test win for the first time in 12 years against Sri Lanka today, with the dice heavily loaded in its favour. Sri Lanka started its second innings late yesterday needing 326 to win, a score not achieved before this season on the troublesome Trust Bank Park pitch, and by stumps had stumbled to 20 for two after yet another eventful day. New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said while the wicket played a little better yesterday he expected the variable bounce to continue while the ball is expected to spin even more as the hard top cracks. "We wanted to get 300 and put the pressure on them. If we bowl well we should be all right," Fleming said. Sri Lanka's batsmen have struggled for form since coming to New Zealand and its regular leading run-getters have been consistently removed for low scores, enhancing New Zealand's confidence. Equally, Fleming is aware that it could only take a magical hour or two from the batting wand of Aravinda de Silva to turn the match into a close finish. However, because of the vagaries of the tired pitch which will be dug up and relaid at the end of this season, long stays at the crease are never assured although a number of batsmen have contributed to their own downfall. Sri Lankan coach Bruce Yardley, while lamenting the quality of the pitch, noted his two batsmen already dismissed in the second innings had both got themselves out. "Jayasuriya turned blind for a second run that was always going to be tight while Tillekaratne should have played an orthodox defensive shot to an ordinary ball from Vettori." New Zealand's second innings batting had more top order substance this time with half centuries to Bryan Young, Stephen Fleming, and Nathan Astle. Flatmates Fleming and Astle shared the best stand, 75 for the fourth wicket and while Fleming found some of his best stroke-play, Astle acknowledged his was a fortuitous 50. Astle wafted away many times outside off stump, being blessed to survive, but eventually began to middle some, striking five fours and two sixes in his 151-ball innings. At one stage he had not scored from 100 out of 114 balls, most un-Astle like figures. "I've just to learn to be a little more patient and curb my natural game a bit," he said. After the partnership was broken a slump ensued and while a brief shower passed over, which had the umpires thinking of coming off shortly before tea, New Zealand lost its remaining batting specialists, Chris Cairns and Adam Parore cheaply, Parore suffering the ignominy of being run out in both innings. It took a 30-run last-wicket stand between tailenders Simon Doull and Heath Davis to carry New Zealand to the psychological 300-run lead barrier and beyond, a 52-run first-innings lead having already been garnered on Saturday. Sri Lanka's spinners and seamers shared the spoils with the most notable achievement being Muttiah Muralitharan becoming the first Sri Lankan to take 100 wickets in tests when he bowled Fleming. NEW ZEALAND First innings 222 Second innings (overnight 53-1) B Young c Ranatunga b Dharmasena 62 B Pocock c Mahanama b Zoysa 7 M Horne st Kaluwitharana b Muralitharan 16 S Fleming b Muralitharan 59 N Astle c Mahanama b Vaas 52 C Cairns c sub b Muralitharan 4 A Parore run out 2 D Patel c A de Silva b Dharmasena 4 D Vettori b Zoysa 6 S Doull c Mahanama b Zoysa 25 H Davis not out 2 Extras (9b, 11lb, 7w, 7nb) 34 Total (97.4 overs) 273 Fall: 14 64 108 183 198 201 211 239 243 273. Bowling: C Vaas 15-3-34-1, N Zoysa 22.4-7-53-3 (7w, 3nb), K Dharmasena 24-5-75-2, S de Silva 10-2-29-0, M Muralitharan 26-7-62-3 (4nb). SRI LANKA First innings 170 S Jayasuriya c Astle b Davis 20 R Mahanama lbw b Vettori 45 H Tillekaratne c Young b Doull 2 A de Silva c Parore b Vettori 1 A Ranatunga lbw b Davis 4 R Kaluwitharana c Parore b Davis 11 K Dharmasena c Fleming b Davis 27 C Vaas c Pocock b Vettori 28 N Zoysa c Doull b Vettori 14 S de Silva not out 0 M Muralitharan c Parore b Davis 5 Extras (1w, 3nb, 9lb) 13 Total (68.2 overs) 170 Fall: 39 57 58 76 87 93 144 154 165 170. Bowling: S Doull 13-4-19-1 (2nb), H Davis 20.2-3-63-5 (1w, 1nb), N Astle 3-1-8-0, D Vettori 25-8-46-4, D Patel 8-2-25-0. Second innings S Jayasuriya run out 3 R Mahanama not out 6 H Tillekaratne b Vettori 10 C Vaas not out 0 Extras (1w) 1 Total (for 2 wkts, 11 overs) 20 Fall: 5 16. Bowling: S Doull 4-2-4-0, H Davis 5-0-12-0 (1w), D Vettori 2-0-4-1. Source :: The Christchurch Press (http://www.press.co.nz) ===> Day 4 (The Christchurch Press) 18 March 1997 NZ Completes Test Clean Sweep New Zealand can face its next test cricket opponent Australia later this year with new found confidence after completing a 2-0 BNZ series clean sweep over Sri Lanka, winning again with more than a day to spare here yesterday. After being beaten, 2-0, in the test series against England earlier this season, New Zealand's encouraging efforts over Sri Lanka enabled the Kiwis to finish its test summer with a respectable record of having won three and lost three matches with one drawn after first series against Pakistan was shared. "We have the nucleus here of a good young side which is getting better. Obviously, we don't have a lot of experience, but we are happy to end the tests on such a high and can feel better about facing Australia," said skipper Stephen Fleming. Sri Lankan coach Bruce Yardley, a former Australian test player, said while New Zealand would not strike such helpful wickets as at Hamilton across the Tasman, it had an improving side. "They are in a good frame of mind and I think most of the batsmen should handle the Australian conditions." In the second innings only opener Roshan Mahanama and captain Arjuna Ranatunga showed much stomach for a fight with the batting following a predictable pattern to the previous three days, the side struggling to last for a day. Mahanama and Ranatunga showed in their fighting fifth-wicket stand worth 79 what could be achieved with application. Mahanama grafted away for over four hours before succumbing seventh out. Sri Lanka had been reduced to 50 for four before than and Fleming admitted New Zealand had some anxious moments, while the solid partnership was in progress. "We had lost the momentum, but fortunately they made a mistake and we got back in again." That came when Ranatunga swept aerially to deep backward square and Doull held an important catch low down. The swing bowler then chimed in with the significant wickets of first test century-maker Romesh Kaluwitharana and Mahanama, effectively ending Sri Lanka's faint hopes of seeking the 326 run target. New Zealand now faces Sri Lanka in a three-match one-day series starting in Auckland on Saturday. The New Zealand team for that will be named at noon today. NEW ZEALAND First innings 222 Second innings 273 SRI LANKA First innings 170 Second innings S Jayasuriya run out 3 R Mahanama lbw b Doull 65 H Tillekaratne b Vettori 10 C Vaas c Patel b Vettori 8 A de Silva lbw b Doull 5 A Ranatunga c Doull b Vettori 33 R Kaluwitharana lbw b Doull 13 K Dharmasena not out 38 N Zoysa c Parore b Vettori 13 S de Silva c Young b Davis 0 M Muralitharan c Cairns b Vettori 7 Extras (4b, 5lb, 1w) 10 Total (75.2 overs) 205 Fall: 5, 16, 40, 50, 129, 147, 152, 185, 186, 205. Bowling: S Doull 15 overs 4 maidens 34 runs 3 wickets, H Davis 17-4-35-1 (1w), D Vettori 29.2-8-84-5, D Patel 12-5-34-0, N Astle 3-1-9-0. Result: New Zealand won by 120 runs. New Zealand won the two-match series 2-0. Source :: The Christchurch Press (http://www.press.co.nz) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)