The second and final Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand will begin at P Sara Oval in Colombo tomorrow (August 22). Sri Lanka lead 1-0 after winning the first Test by 6 wickets in Galle last week.
In the first Test, Sri Lanka played as a unit. A different player stepped up whenever they were under pressure and they will look to do the same in Colombo as well. Akila Dananjaya with a fifer, Niroshan Dickwella and Lahiru Thirimanne with useful fifties, captain Dimuth Karunaratne with fourth innings hundred and Kusal Mendis-Angelo Mathews' first innings partnership, all their players delivered under pressure.
On the other hand, New Zealand will be gutted after missing a good opportunity in Galle and will look to bounce back in Colombo. Captain Kane Williamson who scored a duck and 4 runs there, will have to lead from the front and batsmen like Jeet Raval, Henry Nicholls and Tom Latham need to convert their starts into big knocks. Ross Taylor in the first innings and BJ Watling in the second innings scored well. In the bowling Ajaz Patel, William Somerville and Trent Boult did well but all-rounder Mitchell Santner and Tim Southee were ineffective and could be replaced by Neil Wagner or Colin de Grandhomme.
All the major stats and facts ahead of the second Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Colombo
Head to Head -
| Venue | Test | Won by SL | Won by NZ | Tied | Drawn |
| Sri Lanka | 16 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| New Zealand | 19 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 6 |
| Neutral | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Overall | 35 | 9 | 15 | 0 | 11 |
28 - Kane Williamson needs 28 more runs to complete 1000 Test runs against Sri Lanka.
50 - Tim Southee has taken 47 wickets at an average of 18.04 in 8 Tests against Sri Lanka and needs 3 more wickets to become the second New Zealand bowler to take 50 Test wickets against Sri Lanka.
167 - New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 167 runs when the last time they played a Test at P Sara Oval in Colombo in 2012. Both Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor scored hundreds.
250 - Trent Boult and Tim Southee need 1 and 5 more wickets respectively to complete 250 Test wickets.
1000 - Kusal Perera needs 66 more runs to achieve the milestone of 1000 Test runs.
2017 - New Zealand haven't lost a Test series since their loss to South Africa at home in March 2017.
