SYLHET
\nDhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis both hit knocks of 102 to help Sri Lanka post 280 in their first innings before their seamers rattled Bangladesh on the opening day of the first Test in Sylhet on Friday.
\nBangladesh finished the day 32-3, trailing Sri Lanka by 248 runs, with Vishwa Fernando and Kasun Rajitha striking early in the innings for the visitors.
\nFernando trapped opener Zakir Hasan (nine) and Najmul Hossain (five) lbw with identical in-swinging deliveries, while Rajitha got Mominul Haque caught for five.
\nOpener Mahmudul Hasan survived the day on nine alongside Taijul Islam, who was yet to open scoring.
\nDe Silva and Mendis fought back with their 202-run stand for the fifth wicket, helping Sri Lanka recover from a precarious 57-5 after a pace demolition of their top order.
\n\u201cI think they got too many when we had them five down,\u201d Bangladesh pace bowling coach Andre Adams told reporters.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a good surface. There are no demons. There\u2019s a bit of bounce and carry. We have to be much better with the bat.\u201d
\nKhaled Ahmed and Nahid Rana took three wickets apiece for Bangladesh, who opted to bowl first on a green surface.
\nDe Silva and Kamindu asserted their dominance after lunch to help Sri Lanka rebuild a respectable innings.
\n\u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy to bat on this track,\u201d Kamindu said afterwards.
\n\u201cWe were 57 for five. We discussed that we should bat long. We should settle down first and then keep going. That\u2019s what we did in the middle.\u201d
\nKamindu reached his maiden Test century off 126 balls with a four through the covers off Rana but fell on the next ball, edging a catch to Liton Das off Rana.
\nSkipper de Silva was soon to follow after trying and failing to hook Rana off a short ball, following a charging innings featuring 12 fours and a six.
\nKhaled gave Sri Lanka an early fright after seeing off the top order, forcing opener Nishan Madushka (2) to offer a catch to Mehidy Hasan at third slip at the end of the second over.
\nDimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis made 37 runs for the second wicket before Khaled struck again when Mendis knocked the pacer\u2019s delivery to Zakir Hasan at gully. Mendis departed on 16, and Khaled bowled Karunaratne with an in-swinger in the same over for 17.
\nNajmul ran out Angelo Mathews for just five with a direct-hit to compound Sri Lanka\u2019s early woes.
\nShoriful Islam joined the party when he removed Dinesh Chandimal for nine, with Mehidy grabbing his second catch of the morning down low at leg slip.
\nThe second and final match of the series will be played in Chittagong from March 30.<\/p>\n
SCOREBOARD
\nSRI LANKA (1st Innings):
\nN. Madushka c Mehidy b Khaled 2
\nD. Karunaratne b Khaled 17
\nK. Mendis c Zakir b Khaled 16
\nA. Mathews run out 5
\nD. Chandimal c Mehidy b Shoriful 9
\nD. de Silva c Mehidy b Rana 102
\nK. Mendis c Liton b Rana 102
\nP. Jayasuriya c Liton b Rana 1
\nK. Rajitha not out 6
\nV. Fernando c Liton b Taijul 9
\nL. Kumara run out 0
\nEXTRAS (B-2, LB-4, NB-5) 11
\nTOTAL (all out, 68 overs) 280
\nFALL OF WICKETS: 1-3 (Madushka), 2-40 (Mendis), 3-41 (Karunaratne), 4-47 (Mathews), 5-57 (Chandimal), 6-259 (Kamindu), 7-264 (De Silva), 8-265 (Jayasuriya), 9-278 (Fernando)
\nBOWLING: Shoriful 14-0-59-1, Khaled 17-2-72-3 (2nb), Nahid 14-2-87-3 (3nb), Taijul 13-6-31-1, Mehidy 10-1-25-0
\nBANGLADESH (1st Innings):
\nMahmudul Hasan Joy not out 9
\nZakir Hasan lbw b Fernando 9
\nNajmul Hossain lbw b Fernando 5
\nMominul c Kamindu b Rajitha 5
\nTaijul Islam not out 0
\nEXTRAS (LB-3, W-1) 4
\nTOTAL (for three wickets, 10 overs) 32
\nSTILL TO BAT: Shahadat Hossain, Liton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Khaled Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Nahid Rana
\nFALL OF WICKETS: 1-11 (Zakir), 2-17 (Najmul), 3-31 (Mominul)
\nBOWLING: Fernando 5-1-9-2 (1w), Rajitha 5-1-20-1
\nUMPIRES: Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand), Richard Illingworth (England)
\nTV UMPIRE: Rod Tucker (Australia)
\nMATCH REFEREE: Jeff Crowe
\n(New Zealand)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SYLHET Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis both hit knocks of 102 to help Sri Lanka post 280 in their first innings before their seamers rattled Bangladesh on the opening day of the first Test in Sylhet on Friday. Bangladesh finished the day 32-3, trailing Sri Lanka by 248 runs, with Vishwa Fernando and Kasun […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-395838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n