Sri Lanka 314/3 on first day of
Test against England
London,
May 16:
Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu and a hobbling Mahela Jayawardene both
made centuries against England at Lord's on Thursday as the
touring side dominated the first day of the Test series to close
on 314 for three.
Opener
Atapattu, as so often playing the anchor role after the tourists
won the toss, batted all day, faced 264 deliveries and survived
just one major scare to make 133 not out after putting on 206 for
the third wicket.
Jayawardene, forced to use a runner after being struck on the hip,
matched him before succumbing to tiredness, chipping his wicket
away to short midwicket off Andrew Flintoff after reaching 107 in
the final session.
The two
had come together with Sri Lanka, offered their first three-Test
tour in England, wobbling on 55 for two during the morning
session.
They
looked in complete control against an increasingly laboured seam
attack as the early movement evaporated in the afternoon sunshine.
Jayawardene, more compact and more wristy, reached three figures
-- his third of the tour -- with a cut for four off Flintoff, one
of 17 boundaries during an innings of three hours and 40 minutes.
His one
reprieve came on 87, glancing swing bowler Dominic Cork only for
recalled wicketkeeper Alec Stewart to spill a leg-side chance.
But the
24-year-old deserved that luck after batting the second half of
his innings virtually on one leg following a crack on the hip from
a heavy Flintoff delivery. The innings, his ninth hundred, took
Jayawardene's Test total above 3,000 runs and his average above
50.
Atapattu,
a man known for unshakeable concentration and long stays at the
crease, also enjoyed one piece of fortune on the way to his 10th
century in Tests.
He was on
46 when he chanced a sharp single, only surviving because of
inconclusive television pictures as Michael Vaughan threw down the
stumps from gully.