Southee impressed by young talents O'Rourke and Ravindra despite loss

New Zealand generally struggle in Galle, having lost all five Test matches played at the ground. One loss was by an innings, another by ten wickets, and one by a margin of 202 runs. Their most recent Test at the venue ended in a narrow 63-run defeat to Sri Lanka on Monday, with the Kiwis falling just short of a miraculous comeback on the fifth morning - needing 68 runs to win with only two wickets remaining. This result is their best performance at Galle so far.

But two players, in particular, stuck out. In his first outing in steaming conditions, and on a dry deck, seamer Will O'Rourke was frequently menacing - often touching 140kph - while sending down short deliveries on a pitch not especially conducive to short bowling. Vitally, for a bowler in his third Test, there were also no hugely loose spells. His takings were 8 for 104. Six of those dismissals were of top- or middle-order batters. Captain Tim Southee was suitably impressed by the 23-year-old.

"Will's had a very short Test career so far, and he's certainly announced himself," Southee said after the match. "We saw in New Zealand how dangerous he can be. He's got the skills to have a very good Test career. For him to come to his first Test in the subcontinent and walk away with a very impressive eight wickets for the match is nothing short of special. He's got a great head on his shoulders, and he's a big guy. So there's a lot to like about Will O'Rourke."

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On the batting front, 24-year-old Rachin Ravindra produced his highest Test score yet - a characterful 92 on a treacherous fourth-innings pitch - as New Zealand pursued a tall 275. Ravindra is not quite so new to internationals, of course, having lit up last year's ODI World Cup in India. But he remains a batter still finding his feet at the top level, and the clear-headed approach he took on day four - pouncing almost unnerringly on errors of length, while endeavouring to keep the score ticking - was especially impressive in his third Test in Asia.

"Rachin kept us in the hunt with that chase," Southee said. "We knew it was [a] tough ask, and that it was going to take something special, with the wicket taking a lot of turn in these last couple of days. It was a great knock in those conditions.

"It's not easy to bat - the ball was spinning, and doing all sorts [of things]. For a young guy without a lot of experience in this part of the world to go out and get 90-odd was great signs for him as well. He's another one that's an exceptional talent, and he's had a little taste of international cricket as well, and done exceptionally well. He's a great young kid with a good head on his shoulders."

Tim Southee called Rachin Ravindra an "exceptional talent" after the Galle Test

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AP

For Southee, it was New Zealand's batting collapse on the third morning that was the definitive portion of the match. They had been 255 for 4 in their first innings overnight, only 50 runs adrift of Sri Lanka's total. But they then lost six wickets for 71 runs, as the middle and lower orders succumbed to finger spinners Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis. In the end, their lead was only 35, when it had threatened to be much more.

"I guess the position where we got ourselves in, in the first innings, was good. But the last four or five fell for not many, and there was an opportunity to get a bigger first-innings lead," he said. "We knew that that second new ball was going to be tough given the nature of the wicket and the quality of the Sri Lankan spin bowlers.

"If you look at those moments, if we were able to press on and get more of a lead, things could have been different. It was still a good Test match. There's plenty of good things we can take into the next couple of days."