Sri Lanka’s new captain Dhananjaya de Silva was out for a first-ball duck, but in a rare occurrence his dismissal came in the form of a run-out after Angelo Mathews and the recalled Dinesh Chandimal clobbered tons against some shoddy Afghanistan bowling on the second day of the one-off cricket Test at the SSC ground in Colombo yesterday.
Dinesh Chandimal (left) pats and hugs Angelo Mathews as the pair make hundreds
Dhananjaya drove the first ball he faced from Naveed Zadran and called his partner Mathews for a run to mid-off but realizing the single was not on raced back to his crease unable to beat a direct hit from the fielder.
In another funny incident with the last six balls of the day being bowled, Mathews attempted to go in for a mighty swipe to a ball from leg spinner Qais Ahmad one metre away from the leg stump only to miss and swing his bat onto the stumps.
Mathews obliged the tired Afghanistan bowlers by terminating his innings on 141 made in 259 balls with 14 fours and three sixes as Sri Lanka ended the day at 410 for 6 in reply to Afghanistan’s 198, a lead of 212 runs and defeat staring in the faces of the touring team.
Mathews and his best batting partner Chandimal stretched the Afghanistan bowlers far and wide as the two associated in a wholesome partnership of 232 runs for the fourth wicket consuming 63.3 overs after Dimuth Karunaratne blew up a possible hundred for the taking, dismissed for 77 that he spiced with 12 fours off 72 balls.
Chandimal played in his usual class phasing out his innings well and truly not giving much away and was unfortunate defending a ball from paceman Naveed Zadran that he edged to the wicket keeper to bring an end to his innings of 107 made in 181 balls with 10 fours and a six.
