Mendis puts Lankans in charge

A big hundred from Kusal Mendis helped Sri Lanka recover from a precarious position early on day one to be well on top by stumps in the first Test against Bangladesh in Galle.
Sri Lanka found themselves at 92 for three in the afternoon session before Mendis and Asela Gunaratne put on 196 for the fourth wicket.
Subashis Roy got the early breakthrough when he beat the inside edge of Upul Tharanga’s bat to send him packing for just four and leave Sri Lanka 15/1.
Dimuth Karunaratne (30) was joined by Mendis, who was caught behind first ball but was reprieved as Subashis had overstepped, and the pair put on 45 before the opener chopped a length ball from Mehedi Hasan onto his stumps.
Dinesh Chandimal spent 54 balls making his five runs before the out of sorts batsman tried to smash an off-cutter from Mustafizur Rahman and was caught in the gully.
Chandimal has now made just 90 runs in his last seven Test innings and will surely be feeling the pressure.
The hero from the T20 series in Australia, Gunaratne then strolled out and along with Mendis put the hosts well in charge.
The duo added 196 off 43 overs at a brisk 4.55 runs per over and set a new record for the highest fourth wicket partnership for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh.
After a bright start to the day Bangladesh appeared to wilt in the searing heat and humidity of Galle in the face of some brilliant batting from Mendis and Gunaratne.
Mendis recorded his second Test century by punching Soumya Sarkar down the ground for four and by that time Sri Lanka had taken complete control.
Gunaratne (85) fell just 15 runs short of what would have been his second Test hundred in only his third match when he dragged one on from Taskin Ahmed.
On his way to a second score of 150 or more Mendis went past 1000 Test runs. The little right-hander has become only the second Sri Lankan to score two scores of 150 or more by the age of 22 emulating the great man Mahela Jayawardene.
Sri Lanka would end the day on 321/4 with Mendis (166 not out) and Niroshan Dickwella (14 not out) at the crease.
Latest
-
News
Brendon McCullum hoping to help England Test team lose ‘fear of failure’
The former New Zealand captain is looking to improve a record which has seen England win just one of their last 17 Tests.
-
News
Brendon McCullum: England can be the nation to reverse Test cricket’s fortunes
The former New Zealand captain has been appointed head coach of the England Test team.
-
News
Matthew Mott: Andrew Symonds came close to playing for England over Australia
The then-teenager was offered a place on the England A tour of Pakistan in 1995 after scoring four centuries for Gloucestershire.
-
News
Stephen Eskinazi stars in record-breaking Middlesex win over Gloucestershire
Paul Stirling made the first century of the Vitality Blast season for Birmingham Bears.
-
News
Ollie Robinson’s England hopes scuppered by back problem
The seamer was plagued by persistent back issues during the Ashes series and missed all three matches against the West Indies.
-
News
Justin Langer blames politics for Australia exit and laughs off England links
Langer was linked with one of the two vacant posts with England.
-
News
He deserves to be there – England’s Matthew Potts backed to shine in Test arena
Potts has received his first international call-up for the squad to face New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2.
-
News
On this day in 2015: Trevor Bayliss appointed England head coach
The Australian leapfrogged initial front-runner Jason Gillespie to replace the sacked Peter Moores.
-
News
Andrew Strauss sets five-year goal for England men’s side to rule all formats
The former England captain and director of cricket is overseeing a high performance review into English cricket.
-
News
Shane Warne to be remembered during England’s Test with New Zealand at Lord’s
The former player and TV pundit died aged 52 on March 4 after a suspected heart attack.