Dickwella lightens up a drab day’s cricket

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lankan wicket-keeper/batsman Niroshan Dickwella lit up an otherwise drab second day’s play, scoring a run-a-ball 64 not out before bad light and rain brought a premature end to the second cricket Test against Bangladesh being played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

When play was stopped with 24 overs still remaining to be bowled for the day, Sri Lanka had carried their overnight score from 291-1 to 469-6 with Ramesh Mendis (22*) joining Dickwella in an unfinished seventh wicket partnership of 87 off 117 balls – the most productive of the innings so far.

A strong comeback by the Bangladeshi bowlers coupled with bad weather has altered whatever plans Sri Lanka had of pressing for a win. At the end of the first day, Sri Lanka were hoping to score somewhere in the region of 600 plus and put the pressure back on Bangladesh, but all that has changed with the hosts losing five wickets for 178 runs and only three days remaining if they are to force a result in this contest.

With the pitch offering some assistance to the bowlers with bounce, turn and the odd ball keeping low, Sri Lanka might fancy their chances of yet pressing for a series clinching win. But as the Test stands at the moment there is a lot of work to be done to get to that result especially with an inexperienced spin attack. Bangladesh with a much experienced spin duo than Sri Lanka could capture only two wickets with each of the spinners Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Mirza picking up one apiece.

The day, however, belonged to Bangladesh’s hard-working fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, who bowled with plenty of fire on the unresponsive surface to end the day with three wickets for 119 and also having two catches dropped at slip by Najmul Hossain Shanto. Ending the first day wicket-less (0/69 off 17 overs), Taskin took the key wickets of centurion Lahiru Thirimanne (140) and Angelo Mathews (5) both edging catches behind the wicket to Liton Das, and castled Pathum Nissanka (30) with a beauty that beat the batsman all ends up.

Bangladesh replicated what Sri Lanka had done to them on the second day of the first Test by bowling a tight line and length and drying off the runs not allowing the batsmen to free their arms. As a result, the first session produced a mere 43 runs off 26 overs, and the second 91 off 29 overs for the loss of five wickets. Thirimanne (140 off 298 balls, 15 fours), Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva (2) all fell in the session before lunch, followed in the afternoon by Nissanka and Oshada Fernando, who tried to keep one end going with an obstinate innings of 81 off 221 balls (8 fours) – his fourth Test fifty, which he brought up off 132 balls and with it, the century partnership off 223 balls with Thirimanne.

The condensed final session was dominated by the Dickwella-Mendis partnership with the pair showing positive intent to get the score moving at a pace which Sri Lanka could have done with, from the start of the day. The third day is a good opportunity for Dickwella to pus

h towards getting to that elusive maiden Test hundred before the innings comes to a conclusion.

Bangladesh’s Taskin Ahmed celebrates the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews for five​

Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka is cleaned up by Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed for 30

Sri Lanka’s Oshada Fernando, who scored 81, gets runs on the off-side

SCOREBOARD

Sri Lanka 1st Innings

(291-1 continued)

D Karunaratne c Das b Shoriful    118

L Thirimanne c Das b Taskin          140

O Fernando c Das b Mehidy          81

A Mathews c Das b Taskin 05

D de Silva c Shanto b Taijul          02

P Nissanka b Taskin            30

N Dickwella not out 64

R Mendis not out      22

Extras : (b-3, lb-2, nb-1, w-1)            07

Total : (6 wickets at close, 155.5 overs)      469

Fall of wickets: 1-209 (Karunaratne), 2-313 (Thirimanne), 3-319 (Mathews), 4-328 (De Silva), 5-382 (Nissanka), 6-382 (O Fernando).  

To bat: S Lakmal, W Fernando, P Jayawickrama.

Bowling: Jayed 22-4-69-0 (nb1, w1), Taskin 32.5-7-119-3, Mehidy 34-7-102-1, Shoriful 29-6-91-1, Taijul 38-7-83-1.

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Saif Hassan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Abu Jayed, Shoriful Islam.