Twitter Reactions: Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva keep Sri Lanka alive in race to WTC final

After a rough day for the bowlers on Day 3 of the first Test against New Zealand, Sri Lanka reestablished themselves with the bat as veteran all-rounder Angelo Mathews hit a brilliant century (115 off 235 deliveries) against a quality bowling attack of the hosts. The visiting side was under a lot of pressure after New Zealand took a lead in the first innings but they showed a lot of grit and patience to eventually come back on track.

After the top order failed to put up a show, the responsibility fell on the middle order to pull Sri Lanka out of their troubles. Mathews along with Dinesh Chandimal (42 off 107 deliveries) and Dhananjaya de Silva (47 off 73 deliveries) showed a lot of maturity in the middle as courtesy of their knocks, Sri Lanka posted 302 runs on the board in the second innings.

For New Zealand, Blair Tickner once again performed well, picking up four wickets while Matt Henry picked up three and skipper Tim Southee picked up two wickets. Despite all of it, the home side will not be happy with their performance as they had a great opportunity to be in the driver’s seat after Day 4. Notably, they started well with the ball but eventually lost their momentum and that is when the Lankan Lions capitalised.

Now, chasing a target of 285 runs, New Zealand have already lost Devon Conway’s wicket, who gave a good start to the Tim Southee-led side in the first innings. Currently, Tom Latham and Kane Williamson are batting in the middle as New Zealand need 257 runs on the final day to win the first match of the series. 

Notably, the visiting side cannot afford to lose or draw this match as they are still in the race to qualify for the finals of the World Test Championship (WTC). In order to do so, they need to win the series 2-0 and have to hope that India will lose their fourth and final Test against Australia in Ahmedabad.

Here's how Twitter reacted -

Luke@gerrardchennai

It's not raining tomorrow means it'll be an exciting fifth day of a test match good competeive cricket from both the teams #NZvSL

11:03 AM · Mar 12, 2023

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Akhila Seneviratne@AkhilaSene97

Angelo Mathews (14,098) is now the 6th highest run scorer for Sri Lanka (all formats), surpassing Marvan Atapattu (14,036) and also the 7th Sri Lankan batter with 100 fifty plus scores. He's done his part with Test Hundred No.14, can Sri Lanka get 9 more wickets on day 5? #NZvSL

11:00 AM · Mar 12, 2023

50

රාස්පුටින් | Rasputin@CharukaLive

Lahiru Kumara bowling a superb spell 🔥 #NZvSL

10:57 AM · Mar 12, 2023

10

the badass sociopath.@mjtheorem

Sri Lankan Pacers against NZ top order: #NZvSL

10:54 AM · Mar 12, 2023

20

Masum@masum_twt

Angelo Mathews the unsung hero of Sri Lankan test cricket. #AngeloMathews #NZvSL

10:53 AM · Mar 12, 2023

10

Martin Devlin@martindevlinnz

Another cracking test finish happening here @BLACKCAPS #NZvSL Tricky target. Gettable but tricky.

10:48 AM · Mar 12, 2023

10

Arnab@simplyarnab

Christchurch is producing an absolute classic. #NZvSL

10:39 AM · Mar 12, 2023

00

ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕤 𝔇𝔞𝔯𝔨𝔇𝔢𝔳𝔦𝔩 🎭@Always_Haris

257 on final day 🙄 Hope @BLACKCAPS will destroy lankans🤞 #NZvSL #NZvsSL

11:12 AM · Mar 12, 2023

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A@AnkitShah09

Very tough for the #NewZealand batsman to play the last 15 overs remaining for the day, but all praise for #tomlatham and #KaneWilliamson to stay there and face the quality Sri Lankan bowling attack. #NZvSL @cricbuzz

11:10 AM · Mar 12, 2023

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PassionateGuyy@ItPassionate

🇱🇰 has won 3 outa 4 days so far in this test and thats gotta mean smtg ryt, The seamers are looking in top form too. Just 8 more wickets to take (if wagner doesnt comeout) Lets seal this tomorrow boys #NZvSL

11:08 AM · Mar 12, 2023

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