Mendis revives Lanka with maiden ton

Pallekele (Sri Lanka), July 28 

A brilliant maiden century by Kusal Mendis helped Sri Lanka claw their way back into contention in the first Test against Australia today and open up a 196-run lead before play was suspended early due to bad light.

At the close of play on the third day here, Sri Lanka had reached 282 for six, with Mendis unbeaten on 169, as the hosts gained the upper hand in a gripping contest against the world’s No. 1 Test team.

Mendis’ knock was the highest score by any Sri Lankan against Australia at home and came after no player from either side had managed to even score a half-century in the first innings.

Mendis, who came to the crease in the first over of the day after the early dismissal of Dimuth Karunaratne, hardly put a foot wrong in his 243-ball innings which has so far featured 20 boundaries.

He played Australia’s seamers with confidence before cutting loose against the spin bowlers with an array of boundaries.

He reached his century in spectacular fashion when he slog-swept Nathan Lyon for six and then reached his 150 by cutting the same bowler for four.

The 21-year-old, playing in his seventh Test, is closing in on the record score by a Sri Lankan against Australia and now only needs to overhaul Kumar Sangakkara’s 192 at Hobart in 2007.

The visitors’ bowlers struggled in the absence of spinner Steve O’Keefe who pulled a hamstring, as first Dinesh Chandimal and then Dhananjaya de Silva gave Mendis some solid support. — AFP

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka 1st innings 117

Australia 1st innings 203

Sri Lanka 2nd innings

K Perera lbw b Starc 4

K Silva lbw b O’Keefe 7

D Karunaratne lbw b Starc 0

K Mendis not out 169

A Mathews c Burns b Lyon 9

D Chandimal lbw b Marsh 42

D de Silva c Khawaja b Lyon 36

D Perera not out 5

Extras (lb 10) 10

Total (6 wickets; 80 overs) 282

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-6, 3-45, 4-86, 5-203, 6-274

Bowling 

M Starc 12-4-44-2

J Hazlewood 13-3-41-0

S O’Keefe 16.2-3-42-1

N Lyon 26-2-98-2

D Warner 1-0-10-0

A Voges 1.4-0-3-0

M Marsh 9-1-33-1

S Smith 1-0-1-0