Trent Boult insists New Zealand made the right decision to enforce the follow-on in the first Test despite potentially opening the door for a Sri Lanka fightback.
Boult was the standout bowler on day two at Hagley Oval on Saturday, taking 3-25 in a sizzling new ball spell as the tourists slumped to 138 all out in their first innings.
Leading by 303, New Zealand asked Sri Lanka to bat again, a decision defended by Boult, even after the tourists had battled to 0-84 in their second innings.
During their successful 2013-14 home summer, New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum preferred not to enforce the follow-on when it was an option.
However, on this occasion he kept his team in the field and Boult reckons he got it right.
"It was starting to cloud over and we were pretty confident it was going to swing around again," the left-armer said.
"It definitely did that but they played it extremely well."
Despite the pluck shown by openers Dimuth Karunaratne (49) and Kaushal Silva (33), Boult is confident his team are good enough to make the breakthrough and avoid some more draining stints in the field.
"It's just a matter of turning up tomorrow and keeping it on them."
Meanwhile, Boult played down his achievement on Saturday of becoming the 13th New Zealander to take 100 Test wickets.
He was the third-quickest to reach the milestone and his average of 27.1 is better than all but two of the bowlers above him.
It took Boult 29 Tests, bettered only by New Zealand's greatest bowler, Sir Richard Hadlee (25 Tests) and Bruce Taylor (27).
"It meant a lot to me, it just wasn't the focus of my Test match," Boult said.
Team-mate Tim Southee's two wickets on Saturday lifts him to sixth on the list, level with Lance Cairns on 130 wickets.
NZ TEST WICKET-TAKERS
431 - Richard Hadlee (1973-90, average 22.3)
361 - Daniel Vettori (1997-2014, 34.2)
233 - Chris Martin (2000-13, 33.8)
218 - Chris Cairns (1989-2004, 29.4)
160 - Danny Morrison (1987-97, 34.7)
130 - Tim Southee (2008-, 30.3)
130 - Lance Cairns (1974-85, 32.9)
123 - Ewen Chatfield (1975-89, 32.2)
116 - Richard Collinge (1965-78, 29.3)
111 - Bruce Taylor (1965-73, 26.6)
102 - Trent Boult (2011-, 27.3)
102 - John Bracewell (1980-90, 35.8)
Share
