Yesterday I claimed that we would see what this Black Caps side is made of as they had a big task ahead of them to not only catch up to Sri Lanka, but then ensure that Sri Lanka would have to chase something substantial.

It's hard to pinpoint what I learned about this Black Caps side, the fact that they are only 5 wickets down for me points to a hearty resolve within the squad while many of the wickets were simply thanks to good bowling. Sri Lanka have played pretty darn well and today was a fantastic battle between bat and ball as so much rested on each - make a mistake with the bat the Black Caps could find themselves struggling to hold on, bowl shit and Sri Lanka would quickly find themselves behind with a big target to chase.

Any time Kane Williamson is batting, you watch. It's a glorious thing seeing the Prince score runs, but today his leaves and defensive shots were equally as enjoyable to watch. Williamson will score many, many runs but the mark of his ability his that he's able to hold an innings together as he did today and as he has done in the past.

Hamish Rutherford will also score many, many runs but that's not what makes you a Test cricket opener. Being able to counter plans and strategies to stick around and lay a solid platform is the go and Rutherford didn't show much of that. Like I said, Rutherford will score runs so it's inaccurate to judge him on that because he hasn't shown much ability to simply tough it out and get through a session, get through to lunch, to bat a day if need be. The plan was there for all to see and Rutherford lost his wicket as such, not great but nice work from Sri Lanka to execute.

It's not a vendetta against Rutherford, if he shows the ability to bat like a Test match opener then awesome but I reckon we have to slightly change the way we judge him. I'm sure that Rutherford could score the odd century off 70 or 80 balls, but let me know when he is consistently facing 150-200 balls.

Twice now Tom Latham has been dismissed caught behind, maybe Tom and Hamish should have a little yarn and figure things out.

BJ Watling hasn't been scoring many runs up to today, but he doesn't need to. We don't need him to score runs when the team is on fire, we need him to score runs when the team is 159/5 and in trouble. Which he's doing.

BJ is 48* while the Prince is 80*, two perfect batsmen for this situation. You'd expect the Black Caps to bat as long as they can tomorrow, even if they're dismissed around lunch they could have a 200 run lead which would be the bare minimum. Get ready for another absorbing day of intense Test cricket.