Samaraweera punishes Kiwis

Thilan Samaraweera's 159 put Sri Lanka in a strong position after the second day of the first Test against New Zealand in Galle.

Sri Lanka on top after day two of series opener

First Test Match
Galle
Sri Lanka 452 (T T Samaraweera 159, D P M D Jayawardene 114, T M Dilshan 92, D L Vettori 4-78, C S Martin 4-77) v New Zealand 87-2 Thilan Samaraweera's 159 put Sri Lanka in a strong position after the second day of the first Test against New Zealand in Galle. Samaraweera, on 82 overnight, progressed to his 10th Test hundred before New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori led a fightback from the tourists. Sri Lanka looked on course for a huge total when Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews added 86 for the fifth wicket following the early loss of Mahela Jayawardene. Jayawardene added six to his overnight score before edging to first slip off Iain O'Brien (2-125) to depart for 114 in the second over of the day - play having started an hour late due to rain.

Collapse

Samaraweera and Mathews impressed either side of lunch before left-arm spinner Vettori prompted a dramatic collapse. Sri Lanka subsided from 386-4 to 452 all out with Vettori accounting for Samaraweera, Mathews (39), Prasanna Jayawardene (7) and Thilan Thushara (0) to finish with figures of 4-78. Samaraweera's 277-ball innings spanned almost six hours and featured 24 fours and a six. It was also the first time the right-hander had scored a century since suffering a bullet wound during the terrorist attack on Sri Lanka's team bus in Lahore in March. He celebrated the landmark with a machine gun imitation (pictured). Seamer Chris Martin (4-77) also chipped in with the scalps of Nuwan Kulasekara (18) and Muttiah Muralitharan (8) as the last four wickets went down for just eight runs.

Struggle

New Zealand reached 87-2 in reply by the close. Martin Guptill (24) dragged a short ball from left-arm seamer Thushara (1-29) back onto his stumps to end an opening stand of 45 with Tim McIntosh. Number three Daniel Flynn (14) perished to spinner Ajantha Mendis (1-260 three overs before stumps, bowled via an inside edge. Nightwatchman Jeetan Patel (6no) will resume alongside McIntosh (36no) on the third morning with the Black Caps still 365 behind.