Published: Aug 16, 2016, 05:19 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 16, 2016, 07:38 PM (IST)
Kaushal Silva roared back into form with a disciplined third Test century, which defied Australia on the fourth day of their third and final Test against Sri Lanka, at the SSC in Colombo on Tuesday. Silva fell late on the fourth day for 115 off 269 balls, and was involved in two stands of more than 50 runs to help the Sri Lankan team extend their lead close to 300 runs in the second innings. Leading the three-Test series 2-0, Sri Lanka have thus ensured that they remain in the driver’s seat, and Australia are left with some real hard work to do in order to save themselves from a clean sweep. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Sri Lanka vs Australia, 3rd Test at Colombo
The day began with Australia taking a few quick wickets in the first session, with Nathan Lyon dismissing Dimuth Karunaratne and Jon Holland removing the dangerous Kusal Perera, who had hit a few boundaries early on to show aggressive intent. COMPLETE UPDATES: Sri Lanka vs Australia, 3rd Test at Colombo
However, it was the dismissal of Karunaratne that attracted a lot of attention. A regulation ball, outside off stump from Lyon spun away from the batsman. Beaten comprehensively, Karunaratne by mistake lifted his back foot when Peter Nevill still had the ball in his gloves. The Australian wicketkeeper was quick enough to remove the bails and appeal for stumping, and got the desired result.
Perera fell soon, eventually paying the price of being a little overaggressive. The left-hander hit 5 boundaries, out of which 2 were from top edges. And when he looked to reverse sweep one off Holland, but got a thick edge and was caught behind.
Almost all Sri Lankan batsmen got the starts, but only Silva converted it into a big score. Angelo Mathews fell for 26, after adding 58 runs with Silva. And the centurion from the first innings, Dinesh Chandimal, missed out on a half-century, falling to Lyon for 98-ball 43.
It was Silva who stole the show on the fourth day. When the others looked like using the sweep shot more than needed, he ensured to connect well every time he went for one. Both Mathews and Perera fell to these strokes, but not Silva, who kept picking boundaries. He had split his webbing between the ring finger and the pinkie, which required six stitches.
But then, it was not the case that Silva played an aggressive innings. He was watchful, and played the Australian spinners with comfort on a track that provided some bounce and turn. He used up a DRS appeal early in his innings when Silva was adjudged leg-before, but the replays showing the ball was travelling over the leg-stump.
Silva was coming off a poor run, but he reaped the benefits of applying himself and showing lot of discipline. He faced 269 deliveries, hit 10 boundaries and rarely looked like getting dismissed throughout his innings. It was only due to some extra bounce with a new ball that Holland was able to find the edge off the right-hander’s bat, late into the fourth day.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 355 (Dinesh Chandimal 132, Dhananjaya de Silva 129, Ragana Herath 33 retd hurt; Mitchell Starc 5 for 63, Nathan Lyon 3 for 110) & 312 for 8 (Kaushal Silva 115, Dinesh Chandimal 43, Dhananjaya de Silva 44*; Mitchell Starc 2 for 58, Nathan Lyon 4 for 123) lead Australia 379 (Steven Smith 130, Shaun Marsh 119, Mitchell Marsh 53; Rangana Herath 6 for 81) by 288 runs.
FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Sri Lanka vs Australia, 3rd Test at Colombo
In photos: Sri Lanka vs Australia 3rd Test, Day 4
