Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal led a 54/3 comeback to leave the visitors on top at the end of the first day of Test 1 against South Africa at Centurion.
SCOREKEEPER
An eventful start to the ICC World Test Championship series saw rookie Lutho Sipamla in 28 runs of his first three overs, while Lungi Ngidi forced captain Dimuth Karunaratne to cut 22 of 20 balls.
Kusal Mendis was knocked off by Anrich Nortje’s rhythm shortly thereafter, hitting a shot that was launched mid-attack, and a loose shot from Kusal Perera gave Wiaan Mulder a wicket on his first over to leave the visitors 54/3 after just 11 overs.
However, De Silva and Chandimal stabilized the boat, and soon got Sri Lanka back on track with the former hitting its 71-ball half-century with four coverage shortly before the pair reached their 100-run partnership.
Sri Lanka added 110 runs in the afternoon session without losing a wicket, although the success was somewhat clouded by an injury to De Silva, who retired injured after shooting at the end of a single that took him to 79 * . Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed after the play that De Silva had suffered a thigh strain and would undergo a scan to determine the extent of the injury.
New batter Niroshan Dickwella rode his luck early on with a pair of edges that found gaps in the slip cord, while Chandimal followed De Silva’s lead to get to half a century.
The breakthrough for South Africa finally came courtesy of Mulder, who found a strong rebound to take Chandimal’s bat edge at 85 before pinning Dickwella LBW for 49.
Sipamla then won his first testing ground by pitching fellow rookie Wanindu Hasaranga to continue the hosts’ fight.
But despite playing a lot and missing, and having used the second new ball for the last five overs, South Africa could not find other ground before the stumps, and Sri Lanka finished the day at 340/6.
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