Cricket-Rutherford wastes good start as NZ reach 93-2 in second test

By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - New Zealand opener Hamish Rutherford wasted a golden opportunity to score his first half century in more than a year as New Zealand reached 93 for two at lunch on the first day of the second test against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve on Saturday. Kane Williamson was on 34 at the break, while Ross Taylor was 13 not out, after New Zealand had been put into bat on the green pitch by Angelo Mathews. Sri Lanka's bowlers failed to truly exploit the early conditions by bowling too short and then over pitching when they did try to bowl a fuller length, while New Zealand's batsmen kept rotating the strike to upset their rhythm. Their only early success was when Tom Latham prodded at a Suranga Lakmal delivery and edged the ball through to wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene for six. Rutherford, who scored 171 on debut against England in early 2013, had not passed 50 since scoring 62 against West Indies in December 2013 and accumulated 209 runs in 14 innings at 16.07 before Saturday. The 25-year-old looked comfortable in getting to 37 before playing a loose shot to a wide Nuwan Pradeep delivery and was caught by Jayawardene, leaving New Zealand at 62 for two. Sri Lanka made three changes from the side that lost the first test in Christchurch by eight wickets, with left-arm spinner Rangana Herath passing a fitness test on his hamstring injury and replacing Tharindu Kaushal. Batsman Dinesh Chandimal also replaced Niroshan Dickwella in the middle order, while Pradeep came in for Shaminda Eranga. New Zealand opening bowler Tim Southee, who had been nursing a sore ankle, passed a fitness test while Doug Bracewell replaced Neil Wagner as the third seamer. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)