Sri Lanka take opening day honours against Afghanistan in one-off Test

COLOMBO (Agencies): Openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Nishan Madushka shared a quick 80-run stand after an all-round bowling show as Sri Lanka took opening day honours against Afghanistan in the one-off Test in Colombo on Friday. The rapid partnership between Karunaratne (42) and Madushka (36) in the final session of the day left Sri Lanka trailing by 118 runs as the hosts reached 80 for no loss, scoring at 5.71 RPO, vindicating new captain Dhananjaya de Silva’s pledge to pursue an aggressive strategy. Afghanistan were all out for 198 after tea with left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando taking four wickets and three apiece from spinner Prabath Jayasuriya and medium paceman Asitha Fernando.

The tourists were 109-2 after mainstay Rahmat Shah steadied them after a shaky start but Sri Lanka’s bowlers began to make inroads after lunch. Vishwa found sideways deliveries to trouble the Afghans, who lost their last six wickets for 43 runs — Asitha clearing the final two in three deliveries. “We have got off to a good start,” Vishwa told reporters. “We need to bat for two days and get a big lead and then we have the spinners to bowl them out in the second innings.” Rahmat, Afghanistan’s most experienced player who has featured in all their previous seven Tests, top-scored with an aggressive 91 that featured 13 boundaries.

A terrific one-handed catch from Sadeera Samarawickrama sent Rahmat back after a failed paddle sweep on a ball pitched on off-stump by Jayasuriya. Vishwa took a good return catch to dismiss opening batsman Noor Ali Zadran for 31, breaking his 57-run stand for the second wicket with Rahmat. “The wicket wasn’t favouring seamers as much as we thought it would,” Vishwa said. “We told ourselves that we will just bowl good lines and wait till the batsmen make the mistake.” Noor was making his debut at the unusual age of 35. Nisha Madushka at gully took a low catch to dismiss Ikram Alikhil for 21. Opener Ibrahim Zadran fell for a duck in the day’s second ball. The match, which is not part of the World Test Championship (WTC), will be followed by three ODIs in Kandy and three T20 matches in Dambulla. Sri Lanka have a full tour slate for the year including a three-Test series in England. De Silva was appointed Sri Lanka’s captain last month and is aiming to lift the team’s Test rankings after they slipped to eighth last week.

SCOREBOARD

AFGHANISTAN 1ST INNINGS

I Zadran lbw b AM Fernando   0

N Zadran c & b MVT Fernando 31

R Shah c Samarawickrama b Jayasuriya       91

H Shahidi c Samarawickrama b MVT Fernando     17

N Jamal b Jayasuriya      0

I Alikhil c KNM Fernando b MVT Fernando 21

Q Ahmad lbw b Jayasuriya       21

Z Rehman lbw b MVT Fernando        4

N Masood c & b AM Fernando 12

N Zadran not out   0

M Saleem b AM Fernando       0

EXTRAS (W 1)    1

TOTAL (62.4 overs)      198

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0, 2-57, 3-109, 4-110, 5-155, 6-169, 7-182, 8-190, 9-198, 10-198

BOWLING

Asitha Fernando   14.4-1-24-3

Vishwa Fernando  12-1-51-4

Chamika Gunasekara      9-1-50-0

Prabath Jayasuriya 25-7-67-3

Dhananjaya de Silva       2-0-6-0

SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS

Nishan Madushka not out         36

Dimuth Karunaratne not out     42

Yet to bat: Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Chamika Gunasekara, Asitha Fernando, Prabath Jayasuriya, Vishwa Fernando

EXTRAS (LB 1, NB 1)  2

TOTAL (14 overs)         80-0

BOWLING

Nijat Masood        4-1-18-0

Mohammad Saleem        3-0-19-0

Naveed Zadran     4-0-22-0

Zia-ur-Rehman     3-0-20-0

Umpires: Chris Brown, Michael Gough

TV umpire: Alex Wharf

Match referee: Chris Broad