Mahela Jayawardene completed a superb double century as Sri Lanka batted out two sessions on the second day of the first Test against South Africa yesterday.
Sri Lanka were all out for 486 at the stroke of tea with Jayawardene (237) putting on a record partnership with Chaminda Vaas (69) after resuming on 116 in a team score of 279-7.
The 27-year-old played shots all over the Galle International Stadium ground in his second Test double-ton which came in almost nine hours off 415 balls with 25 fours and three sixes.
South Africa's bowlers, who had bowled a fine line on the first day could not keep up the good work and were left frustrated as Jayawardene and Vaas accumulated runs with ease without taking undue risks.
Jayawardene got past the 200-run mark with a straight six off left-arm spinner Nicky Boje to move to 205 from 199 and also bettered the previous best of 201 on this venue by captain Marvan Atapattu.
Jayawardene thus kept up his fine record on this ground, where he has hit two big centuries and aggregates over 1100 runs. He had struck identical scores of 167 against South Africa in 2000 and against New Zealand in 1998.
The vice-captain added 170 runs for the record eighth wicket stand with Vaas, improving on Sri Lanka's previous best of 146 by Thilan Samaraweera and Upul Chandan against Zimbabwe here two years ago.
He was finally out lbw to seamer Marnantau Hayward just five runs adrift of his highest of 242 scored against India at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo in 1998 to 1999.
Jayawardene kept his cool this morning as he had the pleasure of seeing a confident Vaas at the other end as the left-hander offered a straight bat but was also quick to punish anything loose.
Vaas played both spin and pace with ease to strike 10 boundaries in his eighth half-century, which included two consecutive fours each off seamer Shaun Pollock and left-arm spinner Nicky Boje in the first session
He was out to a fine catch by Marnantau Hayward at mid-off just four short of his best of 73 not out
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
RSS