Tall task for New Zealand as Lanka eye victory

Colombo, Sri Lanka:

Spinner Rangana Herath's four wickets carried Sri Lanka within sight of victory in the second Test against New Zealand and a 2-0 series sweep, as the tourists ended on day four on 182-6.

With just four wickets in hand, the Black Caps must now bat out three full sessions to force a draw or score 312 more runs to pull off an improbable victory.

No team in Test history has successfully chased more than 418 runs to win in a fourth innings.

The highest fourth innings score at Sinhalese Sports Club is 391-4, scored by Sri Lanka against Pakistan last month.

Seamer Dammika Prasad brought the first breakthrough for the hosts in the second session, bowling Tim McIntosh for seven.

Herath entered the fray, snaring Martin Guptill (28) in his first ball of the innings, caught by wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardena.

He later forced a catch off Ross Taylor (27) to Mahela Jayawardene at first slip and trapped top-scorer Daniel Flynn leg before for 50. He also trapped Jesse Ryder lbw for 38 to finish with 4-73.

Flynn faced 93 balls and hit six boundaries for his fourth Test half-century.

Brendon McCullum (13) continued his poor run with the bat, bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan.

Jacob Oram (7) and skipper Daniel Vattori (5) were the not out batsmen to resume Sunday.

Earlier Sri Lanka declared its second innings on 311-5, helped largely by an imperious century from skipper Kumar Sangakkara.

Already boasting a massive lead, Sri Lanka opted to bat on in the post-lunch session to enable Mahela Jayawardene to score a century, having missed the mark by eight runs in the first innings.

However he was out for 96, caught at slip by Taylor off seamer Iain O'Brien. He faced 153 balls and hit five fours and a six.

Sangakkara was dismissed for 109, his 20th Test hundred, in the first session. He faced 175 balls, hitting 12 fours and a six before being caught by Taylor at slip off spinner Jeetan Patel.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene shared a 173-run partnership for the third wicket.

Vettori returned the best bowling figures with 2-62.

On Friday New Zealand was bowled out for 234 in the first innings in reply to Sri Lanka's 416.

Sri Lanka won the first Test by 202 runs.