Dhananjaya De Silva stroked his maiden Test century to put Sri Lanka right on top in the third Test against Australia at SSC grounds on Saturday.
De Silva (116*) and vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal put on the highest 6th wicket partnership (188*) for Sri Lanka against Australia to take the home team to 214 for 5 at stumps on day one after being 26 for 5 at one stage in the opening session.
Playing only his third Test, De Silva reached his century with a cracking boundary through the cover region just before the second new ball was taken. Chandimal recorded his 11th Test half-century, one of his more patient knocks, while playing second fiddle during a brilliant rearguard effort by the two right-handers.
Earlier in the day, left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc and off-spinner Nathan Lyon removed the top five batsmen, but could not get a breakthrough afterwards.
The top-order collapse started when Kaushal Silva, drove away from his body to a very wide Starc delivery and edged to second slip where Steve Smith pouched an easy catch.
One drop batsman, Kusal Janith Perera got off to a positive start stroking a few excellent boundaries through the line before he was undone by Lyon’s quick spinner which took the outside edge and went straight to first slip.
Dimuth Karunarathne once again proved to be Starc’s bunny as he was dismissed for the 5th time in as many innings by the left armer when he inside-edged the ball onto the stumps after a labored 34 ball vigil that yielded 7 runs.
Skipper Angelo Mathews top-edged a sweep shot and was caught at deep square leg for 1. In-form Kusal Mendis edged to Smith to give the Australian skipper his third catch of the morning as Starc induced the edge off a brilliant length delivery to put the hosts in dire straits at 26 for 5.
Text Commentary – Day 1
De Silva showed his prowess both on the back foot and front foot when he carved 3 boundaries off Starc’s 10th over right after lunch.
De Silva got to his maiden Test half-century with an elegant lofted stroke off Mitchell Marsh over the mid-off fielder but was dropped on 73 and 104 by wicket-keeper Peter Nevill and Shaun Marsh respectively.
De Silva was given caught at short-leg when he was on 5 but DRS saved him as there were no inside-edge visible on the replays. De Silva survived two Australian reviews, for a caught-behind off Jon Holland in the 39th over and an lbw off Marsh in the 46th over, as the visitors’ desperation to make a breakthrough grew.
“I am extremely happy to get my maiden Test ton. I played my natural game throughout the innings. “ Dhananjaya De Silva said after the day’s proceedings.
Sri Lanka will commence day 2 well and truly on top with the well set batsmen De Silva and Chandimal at the crease.
Full Scorecard
| Batsmen | Dismissal | Runs | Balls |
| Kaushal Silva | c Smith b Starc | 0 | 15 |
| Dimuth Karunarathne | b Starc | 7 | 34 |
| Kusal Janith Perera | c Smith b Lyon | 16 | 32 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Smith b Starc | 1 | 12 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Starc b Lyon | 1 | 4 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | Not Out | 64 | 204 |
| Dhananjaya De Silva | Not Out | 116 | 240 |
| Dilruwan Perera | |||
| Rangana Herath | |||
| Lakshan Sandakan | |||
| Suranga Lakmal | |||
| Extras (9) | TOTAL | 214/5 (90 overs) |
Fall of wickets : 1-2 (Silva, 4.4 ov), 2-21 (MDKJ Perera, 11.6 ov), 3-23 (Karunaratne, 14.1 ov), 4-24 (Mathews, 15.1 ov), 5-26 (Mendis, 16.2 ov)
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| Mitchell Starc | 18 | 7 | 47 | 3 |
| Josh Hazelwood | 11 | 3 | 27 | 1 |
| Nathan Lyon | 34 | 9 | 72 | 2 |
| Jon Holland | 21 | 5 | 34 | 0 |
| Mitchell Marsh | 5 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| Steve Smith | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
