Stats: Trent Boult runs through Sri Lankan line-up with a fierce bowling spell

The second day of the Boxing Day Test match in Christchurch was all about Trent Boult as the left-arm pacer ran through the Sri Lankan batting. New Zealand were bowled out for 178 on the first day which was possible with a century stand between BJ Watling and Tim Southee. Sri Lanka, placed at 94/4 on the second day, looked set to take the lead.

However, a terrific spell of bowling from Boult restricted the visitors to just 104. He first struck in his 3rd over of the day and kept firing some brilliant deliveries. He pinned down Sri Lanka’s lower order in front of the wickets and dismissed them for ducks. Boult bagged all the remaining six wickets in the space of 15 deliveries and conceded only four runs.

All the major stats and numbers that were recorded during Sri Lanka’s dramatic collapse against Trent Boult:

In the record books:

11 – Trent Boult became the first player in Test history to claim five wickets in the space of as few as 11 deliveries. The previous fewest was 12 balls by three different players – Monty Noble of Australia against England in the 1902 Melbourne Test, Jacques Kallis of South Africa against Bangladesh in the 2002 Potchefstroom Test and Kemar Roach for the Windies against Bangladesh earlier this year.

15 – Boult claimed all the six wickets to fall on day two in the space of 15 deliveries; the joint fewest balls a bowler took to claim six wickets in a Test inning. Windies’ Jermaine Lawson also had six wickets across 15 deliveries in Bangladesh’s 2nd innings during the 2002 Dhaka Test.

Sri Lanka’s lower-order doesn’t contribute:

0 – Sri Lanka’s bottom four added 0 runs as their No.8-11 batsmen bagged ducks. The least runs by Sri Lanka’s bottom four in a Test innings before this game was two runs in the 1990 Chandigarh Test (1st inns) against India and in the 2014 Lord’s Test (2nd inns) against England.

4 – Sri Lanka’s No.8, 9, 10 and 11 bagged ducks in the first innings which is only the 4th such instance in Test history. England’s bottom four registered ducks in the 4th innings of the 1994 Melbourne Test against Australia and also in the 4th innings of the 2005 Lord’s Test against the Aussies. Windies’ 8-11 had ducks during their 1st innings of the 2013 Wellington Test against the Kiwis.

A record collapse for the Lankans:

10 – Runs Sri Lanka added at the cost of their last six wickets in the first innings. They collapsed from 94/4 to 104/10 in the space of 27 deliveries. These are the second-fewest runs added by Sri Lanka for losing their last six wickets in a Test inning. Lankans were bowled out for 175/10 from 169/4 in the second innings of their inaugural Test match in 1982 against England.

27 – Sri Lanka lost their last six wickets in the space of 27 deliveries. These are the joint fewest any team played for losing their last six wickets in a Test inning. (Where partnership balls are known) Bangladesh in their 2nd innings of the 2002 Dhaka Test against the Windies and Pakistan in their 2nd innings of the 2016 Dubai Test also against the Windies lost their final six wickets in the space of 27 balls.

The previous fewest deliveries that the Lankans faced from four down to get bowled out in a Test inning was 32 during the opening innings of 2011 Centurion Test against South Africa.

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