WELLINGTON: Blair Tickner, a scrawny fast bowler, and Michael Bracewell, a spinner, toiled all day in the Basin Reserve gale to bowl New Zealand to an innings and 58-run victory over Sri Lanka on Monday, sweeping the two-match series.

The victory, which was sealed on the fourth day with just a few minutes left, capped New Zealand's remarkable summer of at-home test matches, which also included victories by one run over England at the Basin Reserve and by two wickets over Sri Lanka on the final ball of the first test.

As it chased after Sri Lanka's final two wickets on Monday in dwindling light and a howling wind, New Zealand once again couldn't win without controversy. Had it failed to bowl out Sri Lanka, it would have had to try again the next day when rain was predicted in Wellington.

Before the home team was able to win the crucial wickets for victory, Sri Lanka's final two pairs battled the New Zealand bowlers for nearly two hours. After bowling 67 overs in the first innings before enforcing the follow-on, New Zealand needed to bowl 142 overs to dismiss Sri Lanka in the second innings.

With the exception of a few minutes on the last day, Sri Lanka batted all day thanks to Dhanahaya de Silva's 98 and Dinesh Chandimal's 62. The Sri Lankan tail bravely attempted to extend the match into the fifth day, when the weather might intervene. Kusal Rajitha batted for two and a half hours, Prabath Jayasuriya batted for an hour, and Lahiru Kumara batted for an hour. Taking 3-21 was Southee.

As the light waned, New Zealand seized an additional 30 minutes. Rajitha's protracted vigil came to an end when he was bowled by Tim Southee for 20, and Sri Lanka was declared out for 358.

New Zealand captain Tim Southee stated, "Losing the toss and being asked to bat and being able to put a score on the board was extremely nice to watch, and it set up the performance the bowlers delivered over the following two days.

There aren't many tired bodies tonight, so having the extra day off is a nice thing. We reasoned that if we could make one last effort tonight, tomorrow's warm-up would be less work.

Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls both scored two hundred, enabling New Zealand to score 580-4 in its lone innings before bowling Sri Lanka out for 164 and enforcing the follow with the visitors 416 behind.

Sri Lanka was 113-2 when play began, still 303 runs behind, and New Zealand found itself in a race to secure the victory against the threat of a postponed final day. New Zealand entered the fourth day in a dominant position.

The majority of the first two sessions were spent with Dhananjay's partnerships with Chandimal and Nishan Madushka, which vexed New Zealand. Tickner was the one who ended the partnerships on both occasions.

After batting through the first session, Chandimal lost his wicket just before lunch, according to the scoreboard clock. With a rare burst of blood, Chandimal hit out and pulled the ball to Doug Bracewell at the square leg boundary after Tickner delivered a somewhat short ball to him that ascended to roughly chest height.

The wicketkeeper-batsman making his test debut, Nishan Madushka, became Dhananjaya's new partner.

They spent the most of the middle session together before Madushka left right before tea. He had batted for 39 runs with tremendous effort and restraint, and together with Dhananjaya, they had cut the deficit to 98 runs. He attacked Tickner, but with the tea break just two balls away, Southee caught him at midwicket, ending their 76-run partnership.

On the first over after tea, Dhanjaya's courageous innings ended at 98. On the fourth day, he had kept the Sri Lankan innings together and stoked the possibility that New Zealand could need to bat once more.

However, he went to off and attempted to sweep Michael Bracewell behind square, hitting the ball with his toe and sending it to Henry Nicholls at short leg. He was one of four hitters to reach the half-century mark in the innings, a first for Sri Lanka versus New Zealand, after four and a half hours of batting.

Next, off Michael Bracewell, Tickner made a difficult catch at short fine leg to get rid of Jayasuriya (2). Before Tickner made a two-handed catch, the ball looped up and was buffeted by the wind. Jayasuriya had to face 32 balls before scoring.

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