A fighting, unbeaten partnership of 188 between Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal helped Sri Lanka recover from a precarious position to reach 214-5 at the end of the first day of the third Test against Australia in Colombo yesterday.
The hosts, who elected to bat first on a sunny morning, lost five wickets for 55 runs before lunch with Australia bowlers Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon wiping out the top order.
Starc and Lyon shared five wickets between them to rattle the Sri Lanka batting line-up, but De Silva (116 not out) and Chandimal (64 not out) kept the hosts in the hunt.
Photo: AFP
After settling at the crease, the two batsmen counterattacked against an aggressive Australia onslaught, who kept pushing hard by rotating their bowling options.
Medium-pacer Josh Hazlewood, left-arm spinner Jon Holland and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh were wicketless.
The visitors dominated the morning session with Starc striking early to have Kaushal Silva trudging back to the pavilion after a 15-ball duck.
Lyon had Kusal Perera caught at first slip and then claimed the prized wicket of Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews (1).
The left-handed Perera looked good during his stay, but was outdone by a beauty from Lyon that pitched and turned to take an outside edge.
Starc bowled opener Dimuth Karunaratne for the fifth time in the series.
WEST INDIES, INDIA
Staff writer, with Reuters
Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up five wickets with a devastating spell of seam bowling to help India dismiss the West Indies for 225 midway through day four of the third Test in St Lucia on Friday, while India’s batsmen provided a solid second-innings start.
Kumar ripped through the middle order and tail, moving the second new ball both ways through the air and off the seam as the home team lost their last seven wickets for 23 runs at the Darren Sammy Stadium in Gros Islet.
Kumar took 5-33 in 23.4 overs as India earned a first-innings lead of 128.
His efforts gave the touring team, who lead the four-Test series 1-0, the upper hand with more than four sessions left in the match.
Opener Kraigg Brathwaite top-scored for West Indies with 64, while No. 4 Marlon Samuels made 48.
Samuels was among Kumar’s victims, beaten by an inswinger that he could only chop on to his stumps.
One run earlier Jermaine Blackwood was caught at second slip off Kumar for 20.
In their second innings, India were 157-3 at stumps, with Ajinkya Rahane on 51 not out and at the other end Rohit Sharma was unbeaten on 41.
ENGLAND, PAKISTAN
Staff writer, with AFP, LONDON
Pakistan took a first-innings lead against England on the third day of the third Test at the Oval in London yesterday, with Younis Khan leading the way on 203 not out at press time last night.
The lead was 163, with Pakistan on 491-8 in reply to England’s 328 all out.
The best of the bowlers was Chris Woakes, who picked up 3-75 with eight maidens.
Earlier, Pakistan batsman Asad Shafiq (109) dedicated his century to Pakistan batting great Hanif Mohammad, who died on Thursday.
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