Sri Lanka 238 – 6 (Mahela Jayawardene 105, Thilan Samaraweera 54, Angelo Matthews 41*, James Anderson 3-52) against England

Mahela Jayawardene led Sri Lanka from the front by thrashing a ton as the home side ended up the first day of the second Test vs. England on a high note.

The Islanders dispatched 238 runs for the loss of six wickets in their first innings at stumps on the first day in 90 overs. All rounder Angelo Matthews was still at the crease for 41 runs and Suraj Randiv was supporting him well at the other end at 5.

The second and last Test of the series is being played at P Sara Oval, Colombo from April 3, 2011.

Earlier, Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat on a good looking batting surface on a sunny day with the anticipation of putting a healthy total on board. They had a dismal start as their top three order batsmen went back to the pavilion for just 30 runs on board as James Anderson struck thrice. Lahiru Thirimanne was gone for 8, Tillakaratne Dilshan contributed 14 and Kumar Sangakkara was unable to open his account.

The home side was in crises when Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera joined together in the centre and stopped the invasion of the English bowlers. Jayawardene opted to attack and the ball was being sent to the boundaries very often. He dispatched a couple of fours in the 11^th over to Anderson as Samaraweera kept securing his wicket by adding runs at regular intervals. The duo took the score to 82 without losing any further wicket, Jayawardene was in the centre with 40 and Samaraweera was creeping at 20.

The first hundred of the innings was accomplished in the 35^th over and Jayawardene completed his fifty on the fifth ball of the 39^th over. Samaraweera reached at his fifty on the first ball of the 52^nd over by dispatching a four off Graeme Swann. The score was enhanced to 154 runs when Samaraweera was declared leg before wicket off Tim Bresnan on the fifth ball of the 53^rd over for 54.

All rounder Angelo Matthews, was included in the team after a lapse of more than a month after he recovered from the calf injury which he sustained during the Commonwealth Bank Series in March 2012. He continued supporting Mahela Jayawardene who was playing a captain’s knock without taking any risks.

Jayarwardene smashed his 31^st Test ton on the first ball of the 73^rd over by stealing a single wide of the mid-on . The fifth wicket partnership added 62 valuable runs as Jayawardene was finally declared lbw on the third ball of the 80^th over off Swann for 105 off 216 balls with one six and 11 fours. The sixth wicket was gone at 227 runs when Prasanna Jayawardene was caught behind by the wicketkeeper Matt Prior off Steven Finn for 7 runs.

Angelo Matthews and Suraj Randiv saw off the last 5.4 overs and remained unbeaten on 41 and 5 runs as Sri Lanka reached at 238 with four wickets still in hand.

James Anderson struck early in the innings and claimed three wickets, Steven Finn, Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann claimed one wicket each.

The Islanders would like to enhance their first innings total to around 300 runs to consolidate their position in the match while England will be anticipating folding the innings of home side as quickly as possible.