Published: Dec 08, 2018, 01:15 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 08, 2018, 01:15 PM (IST)
Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews warmed up for this month’s Test series with New Zealand by scoring an unbeaten century on day one of the three-day tour game against a New Zealand XI at Napier’s McLean Park.
Mathews – dropped from Sri Lanka’s limited-overs teams recently – was 128 off 177 balls in his first inning since the final Test of the 0-3 loss to England in November. His hundred was the stand-out innings of Sri Lanka’s 210/9 declared, of which 106 were added by Mathews and Lahiru Kumara for the tenth wicket.
ALSO READ: My stats will speak on behalf of me: Angelo Mathews
Barring Mathews, only skipper Dinesh Chandimal (26) and Dhananjaya de Silva (44) reached double-figures. Mathews reached 50 off 96 balls and his century came off 150, with 16 fours and a six. The left-arm wrist-spinner Blake Coburn took 3/44 followed by Peter Younghusband with 2/25 and Michael Snedden with 2/29.
ALSO READ: Nuwan Pradeep and Lahiru Kumara back to bolster Test attack
At stumps, the NZ XI was 67/4 after losing Dean Robinson, Luke Georgeson, William O’Donnell and Dale Phillips.
The first Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka starts Saturday at Wellington’s Basin Reserve.
