AFP, Wellington :
Brendon McCullum’s return to the scene of his greatest triumph was short-lived Saturday with a second-ball duck as New Zealand staggered to 192-7 at tea on the first day of the second Test against Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka took a grip on the match with five wickets in the middle session after winning a crucial toss and making New Zealand bat first on a green wicket and with a howling southerly wind at Wellington’s Basin Reserve.
New Zealand had banked on McCullum being their anchor, but just moments after the captain received a hero’s welcome as he strode to the middle, the crowd were silenced as he was bowled on the second ball he faced.
Kane Williamson tried to hold the New Zealand innings together but was removed just before tea for 69. By tea, Mark Craig and Doug Bracewell were both not out five.
McCullum has been feted on his return to Wellington and was presented with the keys to the city during a lunch-break ceremony to mark his New Zealand record 302 in a 13-hour innings against India last February.
But this time there was to be no marathon session, nor a replay of the rollicking 195 he blasted in a shade over two hours in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Christchurch.
He was back in the middle eight overs after lunch, played at two deliveries and returned to the shed after chopping a fuller ball from Suranga Lakmal onto the stumps.
Ross Taylor had fallen for 35 in similar fashion to Dhammika Prasad in the previous over as the Sri Lankan bowlers adopted a better line and length after lunch.
