GALLE: Dinesh Chandimal‘s century in Galle powered Sri Lanka to 306-3 at stumps on Thursday’s opening day of the second Test against New Zealand.
The left-hander was bowled by Glenn Phillips in the final session after hitting 15 boundaries in his knock of 116 — his sixth Test century at the picturesque venue and his 16th overall.
Angelo Mathews (78) and Kamindu Mendis (51) will resume for the hosts on the second day after both hitting half-centuries.
For Kamindu it was a world record eighth consecutive fifty since the 25-year-old’s debut against Australia at the same venue two years ago.
Mathews reached his own milestone by becoming only the sixth cricketer to make 2,000 Test runs at a single venue — a select group that includes the likes of Joe Root and Graham Gooch — on the notoriously bowler-friendly Galle pitch.
Chandimal made his ton with a single off Kiwi spinner Mitchell Santner in a knock that capitalised on loose deliveries.
He powered forwards after the end of his 122-run stand with Dimuth Karunaratne, who was run out on 46 and walked back to the pavilion fuming after a miscommunication between the pair.
New Zealand missed two opportunities to break the partnership earlier and failed to halt Sri Lanka’s momentum through the day.
Daryl Mitchell, fielding at slip, dropped two catches including a change to get Chandimal out on five in the fourth over.
Wicketkeeper Tom Blundell missed a stumping opportunity off Karunaratne.
Sri Lanka won the opening match of the two-Test series by 63 runs. New Zealand have not won any of their five previous Tests at Galle.
New Zealand players wore black armbands to honour the late Ian Taylor, who was the manager of the Black Caps from 1980 to 1990.