New Zealand are teetering on the brink of their heaviest Test defeat after being forced to follow on in the second game against Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Following a devastating morning session where Sri Lanka took eight wickets, the visitors were asked to follow on, trailing by 514 runs.
Things only worsened in the second innings as the Black Caps lost opener Tom Latham before lunch. New Zealand still need an improbable 315 runs on a turning Galle pitch just to avoid an innings defeat. At stumps on Day III, the visitors were 199/5.
New Zealand’s worst-ever defeat was by an innings and 324 runs against Pakistan in 2002. A similar ignominy appears to be in store here as well given the batters’ little resistance against Sri Lanka’s spinners.
Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya dominated with the ball in the first innings, taking 6/42, while debutant off-spinner Nishan Peiris was an impressive supporting act, claiming three scalps before dismissing Latham in the second innings.
Jayasuriya is now on the cusp of history, needing just six more wickets to equal the record for the fastest to 100 Test wickets, a record held by England’s George Lohmann since 1896.
