Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne held centre stage in Sri Lanka’s pursuit of victory in the first Test against New Zealand at the Galle Stadium.Unbeaten on 71 (168 balls, 4×2) at the close, he has taken his team to a position where victory is almost assured (barring those glorious uncertainties).Lahiru Thirimanne also prospered late in his innings. He gave Karunaratne a head start, but caught up later. Some of the gloss was taken off their efforts by some poor catching by New Zealand in a period of about 15 minutes when four chances were put down.