Paceman Dushmantha Chameera took career-best figures with aggressive short-pitched bowling to give Sri Lanka a slight advantage at the close of play on the second day of the second Test against New Zealand at Seddon Park here Saturday. Doug Bracewell was unbeaten on 30 with Neil Wagner dismissed for 17 with two balls remaining in the day's play as the host finished on 232 for nine, 60 runs behind Sri Lanka's first innings of 292. Chameera had sparked a top-order collapse shortly after lunch by taking three wickets in 13 balls before he returned to pick up two more after tea to end the day with figures of 5-47. "We haven't batted the way we would have liked and the way we should have," New Zealand opener Martin Guptill told Radio Sport. "It was just one of those things that happens in cricket." Chameera's previous best had been 3-53 against Pakistan in Colombo in June and his spell after lunch had reduced the host to 89-4 before New Zealand's lower order buckled down. Mitchell Santner (38) and BJ Watling (28) thwarted Sri Lanka for 19 overs and just 40 runs for the sixth wicket before Santner got the thinnest of edges off Nuwan Pradeep through to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal after tea. Watling then fell to a low catch by Kithuruwan Vithanage at gully off Suranga Lakmal just after he and Bracewell had reduced the deficit to under 100 runs. Chameera, however, returned for the final 40 minutes of play and got his fourth wicket when Tim Southee became the third batsman to fall into Angelo Mathews' leg-side trap. Left arm-spinner Rangana Herath also grabbed two wickets before tea, dismissing Guptill for 50 and New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum for 18. Windies collapse again Opener Kraigg Brathwaite carried on his Test form but the West Indies' woes were exposed again in another batting collapse in its tour game against a Victoria XI in Geelong Saturday. After reaching 226 for three the Windies collapsed losing 5-31 on the opening day of their two-game in oppressive heat. Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood were the only batsmen to pass 50 as the West Indies reached 303 for eight at stumps on day one. Denesh Ramdin finished 38 not out. Darren Bravo, who posted a century in the first Test, was rested but otherwise it was a full-strength batting order that misfired. — Agencies
