By last night a virus had cut a swathe through the ranks, with only substitute fielder Craig Cumming unaffected .
New Zealand's coach watched helplessly as his players succumbed to the bug as Sri Lanka emphasised their dominance through Tillakaratne Dilshan's unbeaten 123.
"At one stage we had the support staff in whites to go on and do fielding, it got down to that level," he revealed.
Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum signalled the crisis at breakfast and were only coaxed out of bed in the hour before stumps as a last resort.
They were summoned to the dressing room in case New Zealand's bid for survival started disastrously; it did when Daniel Flynn was caught out by a Mahela Jayawardene screamer in the first over but when bad light came to the rescue Martin Guptill (17) and Ross Taylor (8) had brought the score to 30.
Some of those 13 lost overs might be made up today, weather permitting, so New Zealand may need to negotiate more than the standard 90.
However, with rain likely to be disruptive and fading light a certainty New Zealand might yet escape if their batsmen can grit their teeth through the discomfort.
New Zealand resume 383 runs short of what would be a miraculous victory -- a scenario Moles won't seriously contemplate.
"We're just looking to save the test match. If we got to tea in a position to win the game we're not going to turn it down, but realistically we've got to play four wonderful bowlers."
Moles hoped New Zealand was capable of replicating a first innings that never threatened Sri Lanka's tally, but it did span 116 overs.
"We've showed a lot of application and discipline, especially from some of the younger guys who are across here for the first time, and now we need more of that," he said.
Tim McIntosh will be integral to the game plan though New Zealand's first innings' top scorer was suffering worse than most, and was curled up dozing when his stand-in Flynn was dismissed.
Ideally McIntosh will bat next while Ryder and McCullum -- presuming they are capable -- may not be available till the session to tea as they tick off the time they were absent yesterday.
Moles said the juggling of his personnel had been challenging but after viewing the pitch's behaviour for four days he felt New Zealand were equipped to force a stalemate.
"I'm very confident we can do it. History says these (Sri Lankan) guys are going to bowl very well on this wicket. But as of yet it hasn't turned into a mine field.
"The covers being on and off and the moisture around has kept it together as a surface.
"If we play well and we show a lot of character there's no reason why we can't bat out the day."
Encouragingly New Zealand has shown enough stickability once mainly through McIntosh. He was in the middle for 74.1 overs Wednesday/Thursday while scoring 69, underling the importance of his next contribution.
Counteracting his resilience is the constant menace of Muttiah Muralitharan, the taker for four for 73 from 42 probing overs during New Zealand's first knock.
Dilshan felt there was enough assistance in the pitch to encourage test cricket's leading wicket taker.
"It's started turning already for (Daniel) Vettori. There was turn and bounce. If you bowl right areas I think Murali can do damage, it won't be easy to survive."
New Zealand are not renowned for their ability to emerge unscathed from sticky predicaments and the last test at Galle is hardly a good omen.
Pakistan were set a moderate 168 to win the first test of their series last month and lasted just 44.5 overs, falling 51 runs short against an attack missing an injured Muralitharan.
