Sri Lanka take charge
Published:Wednesday | August 26, 2009 | 12:59 PM
An unbroken 147-run partnership by Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera put Sri Lanka in command of the second test against New Zealand today, as the hosts closed day one at 262 for three in Colombo.
Jayawardene is undefeated on 79 and Samaraweera 78 not out.
Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat, but got off to a poor start losing opener Tharanga Paranavitana for 19 with the total on 34.
New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori provided the breakthrough for the Black Caps, eliciting an edge from Paranavitana to Ross Taylor at slip.
Shortly after lunch, seam bowler Iain O\'Brien deceived the dangerous Tillakaratne Dilshan for 29 with a slower ball and took a good return catch.
Vettori then reached a rare milestone by taking his 300th test wicket to add to 3,000 test runs. He got opposing captain Kumar Sangakkara for 50, caught by Jacob Oram for his 300th Test wicket.
He becomes only the eighth player to achieve the 3,000 test runs and 300-test wicket double.
Vettori returned two for 65 to be the best of the New Zealand bowlers.
Sri Lanka won the opening test by 202 runs at Galle.