Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan pulverized New Zealand’s bowlers to help Sri Lanka make a spectacular start in the first cricket Test yesterday.
Jayawardene hit an unbeaten 108 and Dilshan smashed 92 off 72 balls in his new role as opener as Sri Lanka, sent in to bat under an overcast sky, recovered from 16-2 to 293-3 by stumps on a rain-curtailed opening day.
Jayawardene, who gave up the captaincy earlier this year to concentrate on his batting, achieved his 26th Test century on the easy-paced wicket at the Galle International Stadium.
PHOTO: AFP
Dilshan hit the fastest Test half-century by a Sri Lankan, off only 30 balls and upstaging former captain Arjuna Ranatunga’s 31-ball effort against India at Kanpur in 1986.
Jayawardene put on 118 for the third wicket with Dilshan and 159 for the undefeated fourth with Thilan Samaraweera (82 not out) after New Zealand seamer Chris Martin struck twice in his first two overs.
Martin gave the Test a dramatic start when he had Tharanga Paranavitana, Dilshan’s fellow opener, edging the third ball of the match to wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum.
Martin then removed Kumar Sangakkara for eight, the Sri Lankan captain flicking a half-volley to the mid-wicket fielder after hitting two boundaries in the same over.
The start of the Test was delayed by 90 minutes by early morning rain and the umpires pushed back the lunch break by an hour to make up for lost time.
Only 78 of the stipulated 90 overs were completed before bad light forced play to end early.
Dilshan, who has batted in the middle order in all of his previous 55 Tests, was promoted to open the innings in order to accommodate fit-again keeper Prasanna Jayawardene.
Opening the batting was the multi-faceted Dilshan’s latest role after he donned the wicket-keeping gloves in the recent three Test-series against Pakistan due to Prasanna’s knee injury.
“Now all that is left is for me to open the bowling,” the 32-year-old joked.
Seamer Iain O’Brien, who bore the brunt of Dilshan’s assault and conceded 55 runs in his first six overs, denied the batsman his ninth Test century by bowling him off the inside edge soon after lunch.
“I think we just did not bowl well enough,” Martin said. “There was a lot of debate on whether we should have batted first, but credit goes to the Sri Lankans for being so disciplined in their batting.”
The Black Caps will play two Tests, two Twenty20 internationals and a limited-overs tri-series also featuring India during the five-week tour.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and