AFP, Christchurch :
A withering burst of six wickets for four runs by Trent Boult put New Zealand firmly in charge of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Christchurch on Thursday.
In the space of 15 deliveries, the left-arm seamer destroyed Sri Lanka with a dream spell of bowling that handed New Zealand a 74-run first innings lead which had increased to 110 by the time they went to lunch.
Sri Lanka resumed the day at 88 for four with the in-form Angelo Mathews unbeaten on 27 to give them a slight advantage as they closed in on New Zealand’s first innings 178.
But after adding six to their overnight total, Sri Lanka crashed when Boult unleashed his lethal attack and their innings was over just 45 minutes into the day.
Boult, who sent down 10 overs without reward on day one, finished with a career-best six for 30 off 15 overs, eclipsing his previous best of six for 32 against England earlier this year.
The onslaught began with Roshen Silva (21) and Niroshan Dickwella (four) both caught at third slip by Tim Southee while Dilruwan Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara all went lbw without scoring.
Perera and Lakmal fell in successive balls with Chameera surviving the hat-trick only to be trapped in front on the second delivery he faced as Boult’s precision swing proved too much for the tourists.
Mathews, who defied New Zealand for so long in the drawn first test with innings of 83 and an unbeaten 120, was left on 33 when he ran out of partners.
With more than an hour of batting time before lunch, Jeet Raval (23) and Tom Latham (11) put on 36 without loss.
Lakmal, who was Sri Lanka’s hero with the ball taking five wickets in New Zealand’s first innings, found plenty of movement but could not capture a wicket as his six overs produced a miserly five runs.
