Sri Lanka vs New Zealand 2nd Test Day 1 Review: All the 3 Sessions Belonged to the Sri Lankans
SL vs NZ Test Series: Dinesh Chandimal’s century in Galle powered Sri Lanka to 306-3 at stumps on Thursday’s opening day of the second Test against New Zealand.
Sri Lanka vs New Zealand 2nd Test Day 1: The second test match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand is being played from today. Both teams are face to face at Galle Cricket Stadium. Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first. Sri Lanka scored 306 runs for 3 wickets by the end of the first day's play. Dinesh Chandimal played a brilliant century innings of 116 runs. Angelo Mathews is unbeaten on 78 and Kamindu Mendis is unbeaten on 51 runs.
Sri Lanka, who won the toss and elected to bat first, got the first blow in the form of Pathum Nissanka at the score of 2 runs, but after this Chandimal shared a 122-run partnership with Karunaratne for the second wicket. Then Karunaratne was run out after scoring 46 runs.
After this Chandimal and Angelo Mathews took the innings forward. During this Dinesh Chandimal scored his 16th century and took Sri Lanka's innings beyond 220. But then Chandimal was sent to the pavilion by Glenn Phillips. Chandimal was out after scoring 116 runs. During this he hit 16 fours. After this, Angelo Mathews' 78 and Kamindu Mendis' unbeaten innings of 51 runs took Sri Lanka past 300 by the end of the first day's play.
Record by Kamindu Mendis
Sri Lankan batter Kamindu Mendis with his fifty scored today he became the first player in the Test cricket to score fifty plus runs in each of his first eight matches.
All the 3 sessions of the day 1 belonged to the Sri Lankans. They will come out on Day 2 and try to bat for as long as they can. New Zealand though have their task cut out. The bowlers have a fairly new ball at their disposal, but New Zealand will certainly need sharper fielding and discipline with the ball to shift momentum on Day 2.
Playing 11s for the Match
Sri Lanka: Dhananjaya de Silva (captain), Kusal Mendis, Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Asitha Fernando, Nishan Peiris, Prabath Jayasuriya, Milan Rathnayake.
New Zealand: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Kane Wiliamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee (captain), Ajaz Patel, Will O’Rourke.
Sri Lanka lead the Test series 1-0
The first test match of the 2 test match series between Sri Lanka and New Zealand was also played in Galle, which Sri Lanka won by 63 runs. Sri Lanka scored 305 runs in the first innings. In reply, New Zealand scored 340 runs. Sri Lanka scored 309 runs in the second innings and gave New Zealand a target of 275 runs to win. New Zealand's team was reduced to 211 and Sri Lanka won the match by 63 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the series.