Tom Latham
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Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews believes that they have the seam-bowling weaponry to win the Test match on the fifth day of the first Test match at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Monday, March 13. The Dimuth Karunaratne-led team scored 302 runs in their second innings with the help of Angelo Mathew’s century and set a target of 285 runs for the Kiwis to win the series opener.

The visitors picked up an early breakthrough in the Black Caps’ second innings, dismissing opener Devon Conway for five runs. The hosts managed to score 28 runs with an economy rate of 1.64 in the 17 overs before the stumps. Sri Lankan seamers did well in the first innings as well, restricting the opposition to 188 for six. However, Daryl Mitchell scored a brilliant century to take a narrow lead.

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We Need To Strike Early To Get Into The Game – Angelo Mathews

Speaking after day four of the first Test, Angelo Mathews believes they have quality bowlers in their line-up to take advantage of the conditions. The former Sri Lanka captain said that they had a great chance to win the test match by putting extra pressure on the Kiwis on the final day of the Test match.

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“We’ve got the fast bowlers to exploit the conditions. We’ve got some fantastic fast bowlers in the group, and we have the belief that if the batters get the runs on the board, the fast bowlers will definitely come into play, with the conditions. They’ve done exactly that,” Mathews said after play.

“We’ve given ourselves a great chance to win the Test match. We have to turn up tomorrow and just go for it. The game is evenly poised. Latham and Williamson – we all know they are world class. We need to strike early to get into the game. If we can open one end, we can put a lot of pressure on the Kiwis,” he added.

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The Spinner Also Might Come Into Play – Angelo Mathews

Angelo Mathews said that the surface on the fourth day at Hagley Oval had variable bounce and that Prabath Jayasuriya might come into play with big rough on either side of the left-handed batters.

“You can’t predict a wicket 100%, but there was variable bounce today. But hoping he [Prabath Jayasuriya] can hit the rough spots. Especially to the left-hander there’s a big rough on either side. The spinner also might come into play – you never know,” Mathews said.

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