Rain, bad light halt Bangladesh advance

The covers come on to signal the end of the second day as the Sri Lankan players trudge their way back to the pavilion

• Skipper Mominul Haque breaks overseas drought with a century

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Bangladesh Captain Mominul Haque is congratulated by his partner Najmal Hossain Shanto (right) after reaching his 11th Test century and his first abroad

On a truncated second day of the first Test affected by rain and bad light, Sri Lanka bowlers displayed great control in comparison to the first day, but Bangladesh still kept their noses ahead by ending the second day strongly placed at

474/4 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Showing more disciplines in their lines and lengths, Sri Lankan bowlers managed to pick the wickets of the two overnight batsmen Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque in the afternoon session of play before two stoppages due to light rain and bad light brought an early conclusion to the day’s play.

What the Sri Lankan bowlers didn’t allow Bangladesh to do was score easy runs as they had done on the first day. With a much disciplined approach, showing persistency and perseverance under hot and humid conditions, they controlled the scoring rate pretty well, keeping it down 2.65 an over and made the batsmen work hard for every run.

The feature of the day was Mominul’s century. He had the most centuries (10) scored by a batsman at home before making one overseas. He put the record right yesterday playing in his 43rd Test by reaching his 11th Test hundred off 224 balls with a late cut for four off Dhananjaya de Silva.

Mominul’s resilient and patient innings finally came to an end at 127 when he attempted a drive off de Silva but only succeeded in edging a catch to lone slip Thirimanne. His dismissal ended 431 minutes of resistance during which time he found the boundary 11 times off 304 balls.

Shanto continued from where he left off on the first day reaching 150 off 343 balls (16 fours, 1 six) getting to it with a streaky four off de Silva past a vacant third slip. He made Sri Lanka pay dearly for dropping him at 26 – a catch behind the wicket to Dickwella off de Silva.

Lahiru Kumara, in a new spell after lunch, was finally rewarded for his persistency when he deceived the obdurate Shanto into popping up a return catch as he attempted a drive; thus ending an outstanding innings of 163 scored off 378 balls in 533 minutes, inclusive of 17 fours and a six. Shanto’s dismissal brought to an end a record third wicket stand of 242 off 514 balls with his captain Mominul, the second highest against Sri Lanka for any wicket. Mominul in fact has now been involved in four double century partnerships for his country, three of them with Mushfiqur Rahim.

When play resumed on the second day with Bangladesh on 302/2, the objective of the two overnight batsmen was to occupy the crease for as long as possible to wear down the pitch for their spinners to be effective. Shanto and Mominul did not take any chances but were prepared to wait for the loose ball to score the runs. They saw through the first session without losing a wicket, adding only 76 runs to the total as the Lankan bowlers found their proper lines and lengths. Both batsmen perished in the afternoon session when Bangladesh added only a further 62 runs.

Mushfiqur, having survived two lbw decisions early in his innings where he was lucky to get the inside edge of his bat onto his pads, was unbeaten on 43* at the close with Liton Das on 25* in a stand that has so far produced 50.