Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Saturday Nov 16, 2024
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Dinesh Chandimal celebrates his 16th Test century and his first against New Zealand
Dimuth Karunaratne is run out for 46
Angelo Mathews grounds his way to another half-century
Kamindu Mendis sets a new world record of eight consecutive 50s in the first eight Tests
National cricket selector Dilruwan Perera presents Nishan Peiris his Test cap
Sa’adi Thawfeeq reporting from Galle
Dinesh Chandimal confirmed his versatility to bat at any given position and make runs when he carved out his 16th Test century and his first against New Zealand, to put Sri Lanka on a strong position at the end of the first day of the second cricket Test played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.
Sri Lanka’s top order batters really made hay from an indifferent display of fielding by New Zealand to post a total of 306-3, after the Captain Dhananjaya de Silva had won his sixth toss in a row and decided to take first lease of a wicket that was marginally better than the one prepared for the first Test.
Apart from Chandimal, all the batsmen scored runs with the exception of Pathum Nissanka, who was out in the first over for one, edging a catch behind the wicket off New Zealand Captain Tim Southee.
Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne stitched together a solid partnership. While Chandimal attacked, Karunaratne blunted out the bowlers. The partnership of 122 ended only due to a needless run out as Chandimal didn’t respond to his partner’s call. Karunaratne was a wicket from nowhere for New Zealand and he walked back fuming. But he could consider himself lucky to even get to 46, having survived two lives early in his innings at 5, when Daryl Mitchell dropped him at first slip off Will O’Rourke and at 11, when Tom Blundell missed a stumping off Ajaz Patel.
However, Chandimal made amends by getting to a superb century (116 off 208 balls, 16 fours) until a sudden brain fade saw him give the charge to Glenn Phillips and end up losing his stumps. With Angelo Mathews, Chandimal added 97 for the third wicket.
Pushed up to no. 3 in the series to bring some stability to the Sri Lankan batting order Chandimal has responded well to the challenge. He has now scored a Test century in each of the batting positions from 3-7.
Kamindu Mendis came out with a positive intent and scored a fifty at nearly a run a ball, while Mathews took his time to get to 78* off 166 balls (6 fours). The pair raised an unbroken stand of 85 which helped Sri Lanka go past the 300-run mark.
Kamindu continued his exceptional form and by completing his fifty became the first-ever batter in the world to hit at least one 50-plus score in his first eight Tests. The southpaw had equalled Pakistani Saud Shakeel’s record in the previous Test and had gone past India’s Sunil Gavaskar, who had achieved this feat in his first six Tests.
The 25-year-old scoring at a brisk rate reached his 50 in just 53 balls (8 fours, 1 six) with a reverse-sweep off spinner Mitchell Santner in the last over of the day. He finished the day unbeaten on 51 off 56 (8 fours, 1 six). He has nine scores of 50 or more in 13 Test innings so far.
Mendis made his debut in 2022 against Australia, where he scored 61 in Sri Lanka’s innings victory. He did not play for two years after that, but returned earlier this year to score 102 and 164 in the Sylhet Test against Bangladesh and followed it up with an unbeaten 92 in the next game in Chattogram. He was Sri Lanka’s best batter on their tour of England, with scores of 12, 113, 74, 4, 64, 114, 13 and 51*. As things stand, Mendis has 873 runs at an average of 79.36 in eight Tests.
For New Zealand who are trailing 1-0 in the two-match series it was a long and draining day. Ajaz Patel bowled tight and Will O’Rourke was terribly unlucky to end wicketless, as he had three catches dropped off his bowling – two by Mitchell and one by Latham, while he also got a wicket off a no ball.
