Stats Analysis

Follow-on resistance, and Karunaratne's highest

Stats highlights from the third day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Christchurch

Bishen Jeswant
Bishen Jeswant
28-Dec-2014
152 Dimuth Karunaratne's score, the highest by a Sri Lankan batsman when following on. It's the fifth best by a Sri Lankan opener in Tests outside Asia and Zimbabwe, and the highest in the second innings in these matches.
7 The number of Sri Lankan batsmen who have scored hundreds when the team has followed on. Two of the previous six helped draw the game: Sanjeeva Ranatunga's 100 not out saved the Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 1994, while Mahela Jayawardene's 119 saved the Test against England at Lord's in 2006. The only other opener among these seven is Russel Arnold, against England at Old Trafford in 2002.
3 The number of Sri Lankan openers with hundreds in New Zealand. The two others are Marvan Atapattu in Napier in 2005, and Asanka Gurusinha in Dunedin in 1995. Both were dismissed for 127.
85 Karunaratne's previous highest Test score, against Australia in Sydney last year.
125 Overs that Sri Lanka have played in their second innings, which is already their second best in the 19 matches when they have followed on. Their highest is 199 overs, against England at Lord's in 2006.
2813* Runs scored by Kumar Sangakkara across formats in 2014 (only matches that started in 2014), the second most in a year after the 2833 that Ricky Ponting scored in 2005. Sangakkara needed 28 runs in this Test to go past Ponting's record, but managed only 1 and 6 in his two innings. Sangakkara has been dismissed in both innings of a Test for 28 runs or fewer only 10 times in his 129 Test career.
28 Runs scored by Sangakkara in his last five Test innings against New Zealand. His scores read 5, 0, 16, 6 and 1. In his last five innings against other teams, Sangakkara has scored 395 runs, with scores of 72, 221, 21, 22 and 59.
4 Number of Sri Lankan batsman who have followed up a first-innings duck with a second-innings hundred. Apart from Karunaratne, who achieved this in the current Test, Mahela Jayawardene, Aravinda de Silva and Sangakkara are the other Sri Lankans to do this. In all, ten Sri Lankans have scored a century and a duck in the same Test.
4 The number of New Zealand bowlers who have taken 30-plus Test wickets in successive calendar years. Trent Boult has done this in 2013 and 2014. The other New Zealand bowlers to achieve this are Iain O'Brien, Richard Hadlee and Chris Martin.
* This aggregate excludes the runs Sangakkara scored in the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test that began on December 31, 2013. If the runs he scored in the second innings of that match is included, his aggregate goes beyond Ponting's, to 2868.

Bishen Jeswant is a stats sub editors at ESPNCricinfo. @bishen_jeswant