Sri Lanka on top after Thirimanne’s maiden Test ton

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Lahiru Thirimanne cracked a maiden century to put Sri Lanka in command on the second day of the opening Test against Bangladesh in Galle today.

The left-hander, playing his ninth Test, hit 10 fours in his unbeaten 113 as Sri Lanka reached 461-4 in their first innings at lunch after adding 100 runs to their overnight total of 361-3.

Thirimanne, 74 overnight, completed his hundred when he lofted left-arm spinner Elias Sunny over mid-on for two runs. Dinesh Chandimal, dropped on eight by Abul Hasan at fine-leg off paceman Shahadat Hossain, was unbeaten on 55 at the break. He has so far added 94 for the unfinished fifth-wicket stand with Thirimanne.

Bangladesh seamer Hasan, playing his second match, got a maiden Test wicket when he held a return catch to remove Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews early in the morning. Mathews, who could add just two runs to his overnight score of 25, put on 62 for the fourth wicket with Thirimanne. Kumar Sangakkara put Sri Lanka in a strong position on Friday when he cracked an impressive 142 for his 31st Test century. Openers Tillakaratne Dilshan (54) and Dimuth Karunaratne (41) were the other main scorers.