Unbeaten Mathews century gives Sri Lanka first-day honours
Sri Lanka having won the toss finished the day at 258 for 4, with the former captain Angelo Mathews in a defiant unbeaten knock of 114 not ou
Angelo Mathews celebrates with Dinesh Chandimal after reaching his century • AFP/Getty Images
Stumps Sri Lanka 258 for 4 (Mathews 114*, Mendis 54, Nayeem 2-71) vs Bangladesh
Angelo Mathews‘ 12th Test century headlined Sri Lanka’s fine first day against Bangladesh in Chattogram. His century, and 92-run stand for the third wicket with Kusal Mendis, revived Sri Lanka in the second session before keeping things locked in their favour till the end of the day. Bangladesh would rue dropping Mathews on 69, but it was an otherwise tight contest for the Sri Lanka batters against the steady home spinners.
After the big stand with Mendis, Mathews added another 75 for the unbroken fifth wicket with Dinesh Chandimal, who was unbeaten on 34 at stumps. Mathews was on 114, using all of his experience to hit his first century against Bangladesh. Only the Bangladesh spinners took wickets, with Nayeem Hasan taking two and Taijul Islam and Shakib Al Hasan one each.
Mathews’ most fruitful zone was in front of the wicket, mostly driving straight on a pitch that had low bounce but was good for batting from the second session. Between extra cover and midwicket, he struck 11 boundaries and hit a straight six too. The rest of Mathews’ boundaries were hit towards fine-leg.
When he was on 69, in the 65th over, Mahmudul Hasan Joy dropped Mathews at slip off Taijul, and although Mahmudul made it up with a good grab in the next over to get rid of Dhananjaya de Silva, it proved to be a costly drop.
The third session started poorly for Sri Lanka, when Mendis pulled Taijul’s long-hop to Nayeem at short midwicket. They had earlier gone wicketless throughout the second session as Mathews and Mendis bedded in for the long haul.
Mendis batted quite conservatively, only hitting a couple of cover drives and another boundary through midwicket, as he allowed Mathews to thrive. They had come together late in the first session after Nayeem had taken two wickets. The offspinner, playing his first Test in more than a year, removed Dimuth Karunaratne in his first over, before getting Oshada Fernando caught behind. Bangladesh, though, lost two of their reviews with ordinary lbw appeals.
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Unbeaten Mathews century gives Sri Lanka first-day honours
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