Cricket: Tommy guns down Sri Lanka

Chris Martin (left) celebrates with his team-mates after taking his fifth wicket before lunch yesterday. Picture / Reuters

Chris Martin's patience was rewarded spectacularly yesterday with a career-best bowling performance on the opening day of the second test against Sri Lanka.

The paceman, affectionately known as Tommy, put the miseries of his past year behind him once and for all when he took a match-swaying six for 54 - including a five-wicket bag before lunch, a rare feat - to give New Zealand the early advantage.

Harnessing the assistance of a sporting Basin Reserve pitch, Martin took the first six wickets of the innings as Sri Lanka limped through to 211, and then watched with his feet up as New Zealand went to stumps at 52 without loss.

New Zealand's advantage could have been even more significant but for dropped chances and some gutsy contributions from top-scorer Thilan Samaraweera (73) and tailender Upul Chandana (41), who added a record 89 for the eighth wicket.

Samaraweera battled away for more than four hours in the difficult conditions and Chandana played some productive shots in his 81-ball knock, but both were eventually trapped in front by the medium pace of acting skipper Nathan Astle.

Astle had taken over the reins when Stephen Fleming - fielding at slip - was struck a painful blow on the knee by an edged delivery off James Franklin and spent the rest of the day resting with an ice-pack.

With the captain's armband, Astle enjoyed a successful day at the bowling crease, ending the innings with three wickets and a career-best analysis.

But there was no disputing the true champion of the hour, or how much Martin deserved his impressive return after battling form-loss, unresponsive pitch surfaces, and some of the world's greatest batsmen over the past year.

With the new ball swerving around, Martin had Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu expertly caught at slip by Lou Vincent off the third ball of the game; sent back Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in the seventh over, and Sanath Jayasuriya in the ninth.

Starting his fifth test in six weeks, the right-armer climbed into his work and was rewarded with his fifth wicket, that of Tillakaratne Dilshan, in his 11th consecutive over, leaving Sri Lanka 65 for five at lunch.

Martin, who boosted his career tally to 75 with the haul, returned after the break to knock over debutant Shantha Kalavitigoda to end with his sixth test five-wicket bag - and a welcome turnaround after his luckless efforts against Australia either side of Christmas.

"It was seaming, but the swing was the thing that had them following it with their hands, and that's what made the big difference," he said. "It was similar to the first morning against Australia [last month] but I think the Aussie batters left the ball better.

"I've felt like I've run in hard all summer and it'll be nice to go into the winter with a bit of a weight off my shoulders."

The only downside to the day for New Zealand were the dropped catches, the apparently superficial blow to Fleming's knee, and the rhythm problems experienced by James Franklin - who bowled 10 no-balls and a wide in his 11 overs.

Martin said stock-bowler Kyle Mills deserved praise for his effort.

"I thought Jimmy struggled a little but I felt Kyle bowled very well for no reward. We thought we could have had them for less, but at the end of the day, we pulled it back by the way we batted."

* Scoreboard

Sri Lanka

First innings

M. Atapattu c Vincent b Martin 0
S. Jayasuriya c Astle b Martin 22
K. Sangakkara c J Marshall b Martin 16
M. Jayawardene lbw b Martin 1
T. Samaraweera lbw b Astle 73
T. Dilshan c McCullum b Martin 9
S. Kalavithigoda c Vincent b Martin 7
C. Vaas b Franklin 5
U. Chandana lbw b Astle 41
F. Maharoof c sub b Astle 12
L. Malinga not out 4
Extras (4b, 5lb, 11nb, 1w) 21
-- Total (65.1 overs) 211
Fall: 1/0 (Atapattu), 2/34 (Sangakkara), 3/36 (Jayawardene), 4/41 (Jayasuriya), 5/60 (Dilshan), 6/80 (Kalavithigoda), 7/86 (Vaas), 8/175 (Chandana), 9/200 (Maharoof).

Bowling: C. Martin 20-7-54-6 (1nb), J. Franklin 11-1-51-1 (9nb, 1w), K. Mills 20-6-50-0 (1nb), N. Astle 12.1-2-35-3, P. Wiseman 2-0-12-0.

New Zealand

First innings

C Cumming not out 14
J Marshall not out 24
Extras (4b, 6lb, 4nb) 14
-- Total (for 0 wkts, 11 overs) 52
Bowling: C. Vaas 5-1-16-0 (4nb), L. Malinga 3-0-14-0, F. Maharoof 3-1-12-0.