Nissanka’s career-best 187 takes Sri Lanka to 368-4 in reply to Bangladesh’s 495 in Galle test

GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — A career-best 187 by the stylish Pathum Nissanka led Sri Lanka to 368-4 in its first innings on the third day of the opening test against Bangladesh on Thursday.

That left the home team 127 runs adrift of Bangladesh, which had piled up a total of 495 all out.

On a featherbed surface, Nissanka produced an innings of sublime timing and poise, the sort that makes connoisseurs purr and opponents wince.

Nissanka, whose two previous test hundreds had come overseas, finally notched his maiden century on home soil.

A double hundred looked not just probable, but inevitable. Alas, as it so often does in cricket, the second new ball brought about his downfall.

A touch too eager to assert, Nissanka offered a drive too early, left a gap between bat and pad, and was clean bowled by Hasan Mahmud.

“I was disappointed with the way I got out,” Nissanka said. “I knew I had to see off the new ball. I thought the shot was on, but it was a good piece of bowling as well.

“We have been conscious about the run rate. We knew we were not scoring too quickly in the last cycle of the World Test Championship. That is one of the things we wanted to address.

“I hope we have done that sufficiently in this test match and we look to keep doing that moving forward.”

Debutant Lahiru Udara, also looking assured during a brisk 29 off 34 balls, peppered the boundary with six well-timed fours before offering a return catch to Taijul Islam off a leading edge.

Dinesh Chandimal then stitched together a 157-run stand for the second wicket with Nissanka, his 54 oozing class until a faint tickle down the leg side off Nayeem Hasan ended his stay.

The 38-year-old Angelo Mathews, in his final test appearance, appeared in decent touch during a fluent 39 before falling to Mominul Haque, the part-time spinner luring an edge to wicketkeeper Litton Das.

“It was an honour to bat with Angelo,” Nissanka said. “He is an amazing guy. He has done a lot for the game and has helped me out too.”

Captain Dhananjaya de Silva (17 not out) and the versatile Kamindu Mendis (37 not out) then took Sri Lanka to the close of play with an unbroken 37-run partnership.

With more batting depth to come and time on its side – should the weather hold – Sri Lanka will fancy its chances of claiming a first-innings lead.

Earlier, Sri Lanka wrapped up the Bangladesh innings inside 15 minutes. Asitha Fernando took 4-86 while Milan Rathnayake and Tharindu Rathnayake picked up three wickets apiece.

Bangladesh fast-bowling coach Shaun Tait said: “Sri Lanka are a team that was competing for the WTC final six months ago. I think they batted really well.

“The pace bowlers missed a trick with the new ball. It would have been nice if they had taken a couple of wickets with the new ball.

“I think we would have taken our score at the start of the game. We got a good score. We can’t ask much more than that from Bangladesh.”

___

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket