Andrew Fernando: ESPN Cricinfo writer on the Black Caps losing to Sri Lanka

New Zealand's 63-run test cricket loss to Sri Lanka has threatened their world championship final hopes.

The tourists' tail was wrapped up in 22 balls on the fifth day of the test in Galle meaning the hosts climb to third in the standings on percentage points, with the Black Caps dropping to fourth.

ESPN Cricinfo writer Andrew Fernando joined D'Arcy to discuss.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Waldegrave
from News Talks be.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Teen minister a talking cricket now, first Test and Gaul
unfortunately a defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka for
New Zealand. We go to Sri Lankan resident and esp
and cricke Infoux writer Andrew Fidel Fernando, who's just spen
what five days lying around watching cricket.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Huh yeah, I mean it was actually six days this
time because of course we had the rest day in
between so the country could have elections. It was at
the ground for all but one session because you know,
the fourth day there was a curfew on after the
election and it was it was a little bit of
a hectic Test match in that front. But but yeah,

(00:51):
they had not had a great time at that ground.
It's obviously one of the most fin friendly venues on
the planet of you. If anyone watched any of that match,
they would have seen just how far the ball was
going for your Even Glenn Phillips, who's you know, not
necessarily known as as a primary spin baller, he was
getting into rip on day two and so that that

(01:12):
was kind of an indication of how big turning a
pitch it was. And New Zealand just you know, never
have done well there. I think that the first outing
was an innings defeat, but they do seem reclosing the
gap every match. They weren't that far off in this
game one lost by sixty three and you know went

(01:32):
into that fifth day with an outside chance of doing
something special and winning the match. So it wasn't it
wasn't you know, it wasn't as if they got rolled over.
They certainly competed for huge pop portions of the match,
but ultimately, you know, Sri Lanka's kind of quality in
those conditions did did end up shining through.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Oh a home ground, they know what it does, but
it's a state.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
With the way that ball turned off, one's going to
have your name on it and maybe you should just
play as you played. Were they too defensive? Do you think?
Because I think the taire wall, like you know number
six even eight nineteen, they got a bit freaked out
from time fum it was it worth doing that.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
I don't think that there were two defensive. In fact,
I think you know, we saw some a couple of
good innings. Russian ravender on the in the last innings
was probably the best of them. He scored ninety two
or one hundred and fifty odd war So it's not
as he was. He was playing you know, normal boring
obdura test match cricket. He was looking for scoring opportunities.
But there was just you know, there's everybody finds a

(02:35):
different way of playing spin over here, and I think
that I wouldn't say the New Zealand approach was bad.
I think where they lost the match was in that
first innings where they were fifty rounds short. They ended
the second day fifty runs short of Sri Lanka's score
with only four wickets lost, and then on the third
morning they kind of lost a bunch of wickets to

(02:57):
spin and that you know, they ended up only getting
a lead of about thirty so that was the I
think thirty five. I think the lead was probably the
big turning point for me. But you know, Sri Lanka
do have some quality spin ballers, they know how to
play at that venue and they are you know it
is it's always been a difficult prospect for New Zealand

(03:18):
or you know, almost any team apart from maybe the
likes of India, everybody's you know, had some pretty chasening
losses to Sri Lanka at that venue, but there were
some some bright spots for New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
So during that collapse, for one of a better word
from New Zealand than that first inning. Is there a
different way they could have approached that around shot selection,
for example, around attitude? Were they too defensive there? What
do you think didn't quite work for them? That can
maybe be overcome because of course they're back there in
a couple of days.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, I mean, I think probably the big turning point
was Darryl Mitchell getting run out by Glenn Phillips. It
was a really bad run. Mitchell one of the best
kind of reverse sweepers and one of the most careful
reverse sweepers of the ball, and that's really a shot
that you need to have in your arsenal law, it
helps to have in your arsenal if you're going to
conditions like this. So I think that was a very
very key moment. Again, Mitchell was batting pretty well. Phillips

(04:13):
hit it to point if I remember, and called his
partner through. Mitchell trusted him, ran hard, but ended up
getting run out by a pretty good thrower. So that
was that was an obvious kind of moment or an
obvious mistake. These things do happen. Of course, you don't
want to put everything on Phillips's head, but yeah, that
was probably the big turn point for me. Otherwise, I

(04:36):
think what they could have done is, you know, it's
a weird situation where the new ball turns a lot
more than the old ball, and Sri Lanka had the
use of that second new ball, so maybe they could
have been a little bit more careful about getting through
that first new ball period, waiting for that seem to
get a little bit softer so that by the fifteen
twentieth over it then they can start attacking again. Sri

(04:57):
Lanka weren't bowling incredibly well through that period either, but
so I think there were a few New Zealand mistakes
that kind of compounded and ended up in a in
a in a fast collapse. So I think that's that's
what that that period of the game was about.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Well, I Rock covered himself in glory outstanding with the ball.
Did you see that one coming in those conditions? For Look,
he's a he's a he's a fastballer, he's a quick
but His ball control was quite exceptional, wasn't it. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
I mean, I guess what's what's exciting about him is that, Okay,
he does need a little bit more, a little bit
more kind of control. I guess, like there's when he
goes short, he summed occasionally ends up spreading it down
leg and maybe really high class batters will will take
will take toll of that. But what was great about

(05:48):
him was that he was able to get that incredible
bounce and make that as uncomfortable all through the Test.
You know, every time he came on, he looked like
the most likely bowler to get a wicket until Ajads
Pttel became that bowler, you know when when the pet
pitch really started spinning. But you never, you never you
you never felt that the straight lunka batters were comfortable

(06:09):
against or or he was. He was you know, on
a on a track that's not really made for his bowling.
You know, it's it. It didn't have a lot of bounce.
It had a little bit of bounce, but it didn't
have a ton of bounce, didn't have a ton of pace,
but he was still making batters hop around and you know,
nine wickets on your sorry, eight wickets. I think was
on it on his first outing in the subcontinent. You

(06:30):
know that's that's a huge stamp of approval for a
for a fast bawler, and he probably won't play on
many tracks that are less suited to his bowling than that.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
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