Despite being defeated, Southee was pleased with the fresh weapons O'Rourke and Ravindra.

The final part of the match, according to the New Zealand captain, was the third-morning bat collapse.

In Galle, New Zealand tends to perform poorly. Of their five Test loses from as many activities at the floor, one has been by an pitches, another by ten innings, and one more by 202 works. Their latest Evaluation at the place, which ended in a 63-run battle to Sri Lanka on Monday, when they went into the second morning with an outside shot of victory- 68 more runs to win, with two wickets remaining- represents their closest result around.

But two people, in certain, stuck out. In his first outing in steaming conditions, and on a dried deck, seamer Will O'Rourke was generally menacing- usually touching 140kph- while sending down short deliveries on a pitch never especially conducive to short bowling. Critically, for a spinner in his second Test, there were also no greatly loose spells. His earnings were 8 for 104. Six of those rejections were of leading- or middle-order bowlers. The 23-year-old satisfied Captain Tim Southee in a way that was appropriate.

" May had a very small Test job so far, and he's definitely announced himself", Southee said after the match. " We saw in New Zealand how dangerous he may get. He's got the skills to have a pretty good Test job. It is extraordinary for him to take eight innings in his first Check against India and walk away with a remarkable eight. He's got a wonderful head on his shoulders, and he's a great man. So there's a lot to enjoy about Will O'Rourke".

Rachin Ravindra, 24, put together his highest Examine score of the year with a charismatic 92 on a shaky fourth-innings pitch as New Zealand chased a large 275. Ravindra is not quite so novel to tournaments, of course, having lit up last year's ODI World Cup in India. But he remains a batter however finding his feet at the top level, and the clear-headed approach he took on day four- pouncing about unnerringly on errors of length, while endeavouring to keep the score ticking- was particularly remarkable in his second Test in Asia.

" Rachin kept us in the hunt with that chase", Southee said. " We knew it was ]a ] strong ask, and that it was going to take someone special, with the batsman taking a lot of change in these last couple of days. It was a tremendous blow in those situations.

" It's never easy to bats- the game was spinning, and doing all kinds ]of things ]. It was also a good sign for a younger man who had little experience in this area of the world to go out and get 90-odd. He's another a that's an extraordinary skill, and he's had a small taste of global cricket as well, and done remarkably well. He's a wonderful fresh kid with a good mind on his shoulders."

For Southee, it was New Zealand's bowling collapse on the next day that was the comprehensive portion of the match. They had been 255 for 4 in their first pitches immediately, only 50 goes adrift of Sri Lanka's overall. However, they were subsequently denied six innings for 71 runs as thick- and lower-orders succumbed to hand spinners Ramesh Mendis and Prabath Jayasuriya. In the end, their result was just 35, when it had threatened to be much more.

" I guess the place where we got ourselves in, in the first pitches, was great. But the last four or five fell for not some, and there was an option to get a bigger first-innings guide, "he said". Given the nature of the wicket and the Sri Lankan roll cricketers ' skill, we were aware that the next new ball would be challenging.

" If you look at those times, if we were able to press on and get more of a prospect, things could have been different. Despite that, the exam was still enjoyable. There's tons of great things we can get into the next couple of days".