Colombo, Aug. 29: Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath grabbed four wickets as Sri Lanka pushed New Zealand towards a massive defeat in the second and final cricket Test here on Saturday. The Kiwis, battling for survival after being set an improbable victory target of 494 runs, slumped to 182/6 in their second knock by close of the fourth day’s play.

Daniel Flynn was the only top order batsman to defy the Sri Lankan bowlers with 50, the left-hander’s best performance in the series after scores of 14, 0 and 13 in the previous three innings. At stumps, Jacob Oram was unbeaten on seven and skipper Daniel Vettori was on five.

Sri Lanka won the first Test in Galle by 202 runs last week and a 2-0 sweep of the series will make them number two in the official Test rankings behind South Africa. The hosts currently share the second spot with India.

Earlier, Sri Lanka declared their second innings soon after lunch at 311/5, in which skipper Kumar Sangakkara scored 109 and former captain Mahela Jayawardene made 96. Jayawardene, who hit 92 in the first innings, missed a century for the second time in the Test when he edged Iain O’Brien to Taylor at first slip soon after lunch.

Sangakkara declared at the fall of Jayawardene’s wicket, leaving his bowlers four-and-a-half sessions to bowl out the tourists. Tim McIntosh and Martin Guptill put on 36 for the first wicket before both batsmen were dismissed in the space of five runs. — AFP