Sri Lanka Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne made an unbeaten 49 on day 1 of the 2nd ICC Test Championship game between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at the P Sara Oval in Colombo as Sri Lanka ended the rain-curtailed day on 85/2.
Heavy rain overnight and incessant showers on match-day forced officials to delay the start of the game by nearly 4 hours but some quick work by the ground staff and brighter weather made it possible for the Umpires to schedule a 1.40pm start.
Karunaratne won the toss for the hosts and had no hesitation in batting first, despite the cloudy, damp conditions. Both he and opening partner Lahiru Thirimanne started cautiously before the latter was dismissed by the off-spinner Will Somerville midway through the session.
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Karunaratne and Mendis both had their fair share of luck as edges found their way to the boundary through New Zealand’s slip cordon early in the innings, however, with the spinners coming on to bowl, they settled down nicely to score at a relatively good pace throughout the hour before tea.
Somerville was the only Kiwi fortunate enough to get a wicket before the Tea break, despite some tight bowling from both Tim Southee and Trent Boult. The off-spinner broke through Sri Lanka’s opening stand, drawing a false shot from Thirimanne, who was caught by Kane Williamson at short cover.
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Mendis looked fluent after some early struggles but fell to a seemingly harmless delivery from Colin de Grandhomme.
Both teams made one change apiece coming into this game, with Sri Lanka bringing in the experienced Dilruwan Perera to replace Akila Dananjaya while New Zealand opted for the extra batsman cum medium pace bowler in de Grandhomme in place of Mitchell Santner.
Umpires called an early end to the day at 5.03pm as the light steadily deteriorated in Colombo.
Watch Live – New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka 2019 – 2nd Test Match
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c BJ Watling b Tim Southee | 65 | 165 | 6 | 0 | 39.39 |
| Lahiru Thirimanne | c Kane Williamson b William Somerville | 2 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 5.71 |
| Kusal Mendis | c BJ Watling b Colin de Grandhomme | 32 | 70 | 4 | 0 | 45.71 |
| Angelo Mathews | c BJ Watling b Trent Boult | 2 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 6.90 |
| Kusal Perera | lbw b Trent Boult | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | b Trent Boult | 109 | 148 | 16 | 2 | 73.65 |
| Niroshan Dickwella | c BJ Watling b Tim Southee | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dilruwan Perera | lbw b Ajaz Patel | 13 | 54 | 1 | 0 | 24.07 |
| Suranga Lakmal | c BJ Watling b Tim Southee | 10 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 41.67 |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | lbw b Tim Southee | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Lahiru Kumara | not out | 5 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 45.45 |
| Extras | 6 (b 1 , lb 2 , nb 3, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 244/10 (90.2 Overs, RR: 2.7) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-29 (14.4) Lahiru Thirimanne, 2-79 (32.3) Kusal Mendis, 3-93 (41.1) Angelo Mathews, 4-93 (41.5) Kusal Perera, 5-130 (57.3) Dimuth Karunaratne, 6-130 (57.6) Niroshan Dickwella, 7-171 (74.5) Dilruwan Perera, 8-214 (83.5) Suranga Lakmal, 9-224 (85.1) Lasith Embuldeniya, 10-244 (90.2) Dhananjaya de Silva, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trent Boult | 22.2 | 6 | 75 | 3 | 3.38 | |
| Tim Southee | 29 | 7 | 63 | 4 | 2.17 | |
| Colin de Grandhomme | 17 | 3 | 35 | 1 | 2.06 | |
| William Somerville | 6 | 3 | 20 | 1 | 3.33 | |
| Ajaz Patel | 16 | 4 | 48 | 1 | 3.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeet Raval | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Dilruwan Perera | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Tom Latham | lbw b Dilruwan Perera | 154 | 251 | 15 | 0 | 61.35 |
| Kane Williamson | c Kusal Mendis b Lahiru Kumara | 20 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 71.43 |
| Ross Taylor | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Lasith Embuldeniya | 23 | 43 | 3 | 0 | 53.49 |
| Henry Nicholls | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Dilruwan Perera | 15 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 32.61 |
| BJ Watling | not out | 105 | 226 | 4 | 0 | 46.46 |
| Colin de Grandhomme | c Lahiru Kumara b Lasith Embuldeniya | 83 | 77 | 5 | 5 | 107.79 |
| Tim Southee | not out | 24 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 240.00 |
| Extras | 7 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 0, w 3, pen 0) |
| Total | 431/6 (115 Overs, RR: 3.75) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-1 (3.1) Jeet Raval, 2-34 (12.5) Kane Williamson, 3-84 (26.2) Ross Taylor, 4-126 (42.3) Henry Nicholls, 5-269 (85.3) Tom Latham, 6-382 (110.2) Colin de Grandhomme, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dilruwan Perera | 37 | 4 | 114 | 3 | 3.08 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 5 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 2.00 | |
| Suranga Lakmal | 11 | 2 | 32 | 0 | 2.91 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 25 | 0 | 115 | 1 | 4.60 | |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | 37 | 4 | 156 | 2 | 4.22 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lahiru Thirimanne | run out (Ajaz Patel) | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Kusal Perera | c BJ Watling b Trent Boult | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Kusal Mendis | b William Somerville | 20 | 63 | 3 | 0 | 31.75 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Ross Taylor b Colin de Grandhomme | 7 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 23.33 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c Tim Southee b Ajaz Patel | 1 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 5.26 |
| Niroshan Dickwella | c Tom Latham b Ajaz Patel | 51 | 161 | 4 | 0 | 31.68 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | lbw b Tim Southee | 21 | 70 | 2 | 0 | 30.00 |
| Dilruwan Perera | c Ross Taylor b Tim Southee | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Suranga Lakmal | c Tom Latham b William Somerville | 14 | 45 | 2 | 1 | 31.11 |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | c Kane Williamson b Trent Boult | 5 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 45.45 |
| Lahiru Kumara | not out | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 3 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 1, pen 0) |
| Total | 122/10 (70.2 Overs, RR: 1.73) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-0 (0.5) Lahiru Thirimanne, 2-4 (2.2) Kusal Perera, 3-11 (11.3) Angelo Mathews, 4-22 (18.3) Dhananjaya de Silva, 5-32 (21.5) Kusal Mendis, 6-73 (43.5) Dimuth Karunaratne, 7-75 (47.4) Dilruwan Perera, 8-115 (65.3) Suranga Lakmal, 9-118 (69.3) Niroshan Dickwella, 10-122 (70.2) Lasith Embuldeniya, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trent Boult | 14.2 | 8 | 17 | 2 | 1.20 | |
| Tim Southee | 12 | 6 | 15 | 2 | 1.25 | |
| Ajaz Patel | 19 | 3 | 31 | 2 | 1.63 | |
| Colin de Grandhomme | 4 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 2.00 | |
| William Somerville | 21 | 6 | 49 | 2 | 2.33 | |
