Toss: New Zealand. Test debuts: K. P. Walmsley; C. I. Dunusinghe. After their initial batting torment, Sri Lanka steadily took command and finished off�New Zealand before lunch on the fifth day � their�first Test win overseas. The triumph gained lustre from the fact that the pitch was tailored for the New Zealand medium-fast bowlers, Morrison,�Nash and the 6ft 8in 22-year-old Kerry Walmsley. Napier pitches are usually hard and true, offering bowlers little help. This one had a solid covering of grass and 13 wickets fell on the first day.

After sending Sri Lanka in,�New Zealand scented a morale-building win when Walmsley, despite being erratic, and Nash claimed three wickets for 40. Sri Lanka struggled to 88 for six, but were sustained for a while by a 49-run stand between�Arjuna Ranatunga and Vaas. Ranatunga became the first Sri Lankan to score 3,000 Test runs when 39.

Their recovery to 183 suggested the pitch was losing its sting. But�Wickremasinghe and Vaas gained sharp movement off the pitch and through the air as they captured three wickets for six in 20 balls.�New Zealand were lucky not to be five down by stumps, as�Fleming was dropped and Rutherford might have been lbw. On a misty second morning, they offered only brief resistance to more sharp medium-fast bowling and improved catching. Rutherford toiled for three hours, but�Sri Lanka brushed New Zealand aside for 109 inside 43 overs, with left-armer Vaas taking five for 47.

Sri Lanka seemed to have wasted a 74-run lead at 22 for three. Samaraweera was given run out at 14 � although he had gained his ground and then jumped in the air to avoid a throw, an action allowed under Law 38.1- and, when�Larsen had Gurusinha and�Sanjeeva Ranatunga�lbw, the match was swinging back to�New Zealand. Tillekeratne and�De Silva slowly reasserted their command until bad light stopped play at 5.15 p.m. and, after a wet third morning, extended their partnership to 99. Tillekeratne's invaluable five-hour 74 finally ended with�Sri Lanka 205 for six, growing more confident with every minute as the pitch eased.�Vaas put together 36, while the debutant keeper�Dunusinghe took command. The tailenders struggled to stay with him as he approached a century, but he was ninth out, for 91, after 323 minutes. In the closing stages he had a runner, though he was later able to take four catches.

Needing 427 to win in five sessions,�New Zealand were baffled by Muralitharan's bounce and sharp off-spin. Though Murray and Greatbatch counter-attacked to take the score past 100 with only one wicket down, three quick wickets put�New Zealand in trouble again. Rutherford and Thomson survived, not at all confidently, until stumps, when�John F. Reid, the stand-in�New Zealand coach, tastelessly claimed�Muralitharan's action was suspect. Next morning, at 141,�Rutherford was�caught behind off Vaas and Muralitharan ended�Thomson's struggle.�Vaas ripped out the tail with merciful speed, for match figures of 45.3�13�90�10. No Sri Lankan had taken ten in a Test before.

Man of the Match:�W. P. U. J. C. Vaas.

Close of play: First day,�New Zealand 33�3 (S. P. Fleming 20*, K. R. Rutherford 8*); Second day,�Sri Lanka 92�3 (P. A. De Silva 52*,�H. P. Tillekeratne 16*); Third day, Sri Lanka 253�6 (C. I. Dunusinghe 50*, W. P. U. J. C. Vaas 12*); Fourth day, New Zealand 139�4 (K. R. Rutherford 20*, S. A. Thomson 2*).

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