They slipped to 118 ranking points, equal with South Africa, who beat Sri Lanka in Johannesburg on Saturday to go 3-0 up.

South Africa will overtake Australia if they win the remaining two matches in that series. When Kane Williamson won the toss he had no hesitation in batting first on the Hamilton wicket, correctly forecasting it would slow up as the day wore on and Boult would come into his own.

But in the prime early batting conditions, New Zealand appeared to have under-performed with their 281 for nine, despite Taylor’s 107 off 101 balls and his century partnership with Dean Brownlie who made 63.

With rankings and the series at stake after New Zealand won the first ODI by six wickets and the second was washed out, Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh made a flying start to Australia’s reply, averaging more than six an over.

They were particularly harsh on Tim Southee, whose opening four-over spell cost 30 runs, while new-ball partner and man-of-the-match Boult then had one for 10.

Chandimal (132) continued Sri Lanka’s superb fightback with his seventh test century after they were reduced to 26 for five on the first morning with the hosts’ innings finally coming to an end just before the tea break.

Australia, who face the very real prospect of losing their top test ranking and suffering a 3-0 series sweep, lost David Warner (11) early to Dhananjaya de Silva but Smith (61) and Marsh (64) then added 120 for the unbroken second wicket.

At stumps, the touring side reached 141 for one wicket, trailing Sri Lanka by 214 runs.

Earlier, Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc picked up the last two wickets to fall, including the one of Chandimal, to complete his seventh career five-wicket haul and take his series tally to 22.

After resuming on 214-5, De Silva (129) and Chandimal put paid to Australia’s hopes of quick wickets by extending their sixth-wicket stand to 211 before the overnight centurion became off-spinner Nathan Lyon’s third victim.

Shaun Marsh, who had dropped De Silva on Saturday after the batsman had completed his maiden hundred, managed to hold on to the catch at forward short leg this time.

Dilruwan Perera (16) was the only other batsman to fall in the first session, giving left-arm spinner Jon Holland his first wicket of the innings as the batsman lofted a drive to Lyon at long on as he looked to up the tempo.

Chandimal, 26, was mostly watchful and concentrated hard during his knock but broke free to move into the 80s when he reverse swept Lyon for a superb six over the deep point boundary.

He turned Lyon for a single to square leg to complete his hundred off 281 balls, celebrating with a loud yell as he leapt in the air. He was dropped by Australia captain Steven Smith off the very next delivery.

Chandimal and Rangana Herath added 73 runs for the eighth wicket, deepening the frustration for Australia.

The partnership ended with Herath retiring hurt after suffering a body blow against paceman Josh Hazlewood.

Left-arm paceman Starc had Chandimal edging behind on the second delivery of his new spell and then dismissed Suranga Lakmal in his next over to complete his third consecutive five-wicket haul.

Only four members – Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh and Peter Siddle – from the 14-member squad that played in Australia’s victorious Test series campaign against New Zealand earlier this year, have experienced Test cricket in the island nation. James Pattinson was in the squad that toured Sri Lanka in 2011 but he didn’t get a game.

“I was over there when Shaun Marsh made his debut hundred (in September 2011),” Warner told cricket.com.au on Wednesday (May 4). “I’ve seen first-hand how the wickets are there. I know Pallekele is a nice batting wicket with a bit of late turn in the innings. Galle is traditionally a slow turner and in Colombo it’s a very nice batting track. For us, as a batting group, it’s about batting long periods and building partnerships and putting on good totals to make sure that our bowlers are in play come the second innings, whether it’s through reverse (swing) or spin.” Two of Australia’s recent tours to the sub-continent ended in disaster as they lost 4-0 to India in 2013 and then 2-0 to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in 2014. Despite having a career strike rate of 76.92 in the format, Warner saw it come down to 50 in India three years ago. It was slightly better in the UAE, where he was scoring at a rate just under 60.

Warner reasoned that the batsmen can tend to get bogged down in sub-continental conditions and that attacking the spinners could end up working in the batting side’s favour. “Sometimes we can get caught being too defensive and forget about attacking a little bit,” he said. “Sometimes that can work in your favour if you attack a little bit more the bowler might have to take out a short leg or an extra slip and put it somewhere else. “We’ve got to be prepared to bat time and battle the demons of whether the ball can actually turn as much as you think. For us it’s our bat in front our pads and actually using our feet a bit more and looking to score. We’re going to have to come up with a game plan to suit those conditions and you’ve got to stick to your game plan.” Whether his teammates follow suit or not, Warner is sure about taking the aggressive route in Sri Lanka. “At the end of the day, for me, my best way of approaching the game is to look to score runs. “If I’m looking to score then I’m in the right frame of mind. That’s always going to be my positive energy and intent and that’s always to look to score first and defend second.”

Shaun Marsh anchored Australia to the cusp of victory before losing his wicket on 49, and the battling Kiwis set up a tense finish under the floodlights by also dismissing Peter Nevill to leave the home side seven wickets down.

Much to the crowd’s relief Peter Siddle, whose ailing grandmother passed away overnight, cracked the winning runs with a hobbling Mitchell Starc as his batting partner, to clinch a 2-0 series victory over the gallant Black Caps. Australia won the first Brisbane Test by 208 runs and the second Perth Test was drawn.

The match was redemption for Marsh, who has struggled to hold down a place in the Australian team with inconsistent batting performances over his four years at Test level.

“It was fantastic for Shaun to get an opportunity,” said skipper Steve Smith. “He’s been batting extremely well and the way he played under pressure with his brother to put a partnership together was really crucial for us at that stage.”

The pink ball developed for day-night Tests triumphed over the bat in a fast-paced Test which attracted a total attendance of 123,736. The aim of the experiment is to bring the crowds back to the long form of the game.

“The bowlers have dominated this game and it’s great for cricket,” Smith said. It was the first three-day Test match at the Adelaide Oval in 64 years — since the West Indies beat Australia by six wickets.

“I thought it was an outstanding Test match. It was closely fought. We’d dearly have loved an extra few runs today, but it wasn’t to be,” said Kiwi captain Brendon McCullum. “It’s pretty hard to separate the two teams over the last two Test matches.”

After being set 187 to win, the hosts were rocked by the double loss of key batsmen Smith and David Warner in the space of seven balls.

New Zealand earlier lost their last five wickets in the day’s first session to be bowled out for 208, a lead of 186.

Man-of-the-match paceman Josh Hazlewood led the Australian attack in the absence of the injured Mitchell Starc, taking six for 70 off 24.5 overs.

The Kiwis, who had resumed on 116 for five, lost their last five wickets for 92. Santner top-scored with an impressive 45 off 88 balls.

AFP