He took one spectacular catch, diving to his left to dismiss Lahiru Thirimanne and did a tidy job to Mark Craig's off spin, which was biting and turning. "I think it's a surface that if you bowl a bit short on it often it goes past the outside edge and that's what our quicks do really well.
"They ask good questions and try and swing it from a good length."
Several balls took the edge but eluded searching hands behind the wicket. New Zealand kept a tight hold on the scoring rate, although to be fair, Sri Lanka weren't after rapid runs.
"There's still plenty of half-chances popping around," said Watling.
"You're always still in the game and they definitely did play a lot better than in the first innings."
Chalk that up in large part to opener Dimuth Karunaratne, who was delighted to go beyond his standard mid-range score and crack three figures for the first time in a test.
"It was frustrating not to get him. But he played an exceptional innings in the circumstances," Watling added.
Karunaratne was disappointed getting out late in the day.
He had other plans for this morning.
"I was a bit frustrated and just wanted to bat through the last few overs, refresh and get out there tomorrow," Karunaratne said.
"I never thought about the 100. I just wanted to bat, bat, bat until the end."
With key man Kumar Sangakkara missing out again yesterday, a rare event in a stellar career, Sri Lanka needed someone else to step up. Time will tell how important this innings is in the young opener's career.
Watling isn't banking on fourth innings blues for New Zealand either.
"I think if you hit good areas there's still enough in it. But I think they showed today it's still a good track to bat on."
