1st Test
Day-1 Morning Session Highlights:
Sri Lanka team has stabilized after the William O’Rourke’s early breakthroughs
At The Lunch of Day-1:
Sri Lanka scored 88/2 (1st Innings) vs New Zealand
William O’Rourke’s twin strikes put Sri Lanka on the backfoot early, but experienced campaigners Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews rescued the innings, taking their side to 88/2 by Lunch on the opening day of the first Test in Galle.
However, Mathews later retired hurt after being struck on his right hand by the young pacer.
Sri Lankan captain Dhananjaya de Silva had no hesitation opting to bat in sunny Galle, but the decision quickly backfired.
Pathum Nissanka had a nervy start, opening his account with a streaky boundary as the extra bounce off the first ball took a thick inside edge past the leg stump.
With the New Zealand pacers finding swing and seam early, the hosts struggled to settle.
O’Rourke got the ball to move and posed constant challenges to both openers.
While Nissanka managed a few boundaries during his 25-ball stay for 27, Dimuth Karunaratne was the first to fall.
He edged a back-of-a-length delivery angled in before sharply moving away, offering a catch to the keeper.
In O’Rourke’s next over, Nissanka received a gem of an in swinging yorker that rattled his off stump, halting Sri Lanka’s run flow.
Mathews and Chandimal then came together to rebuild the innings, digging in as both pacers and spinners made runs hard to come by.
With half an hour left in the session, O’Rourke returned to the attack and struck Mathews on his right glove with a delivery that sharply reared up.
In visible discomfort, the veteran batter tried to continue but eventually walked off four overs before Lunch, delivering a crucial blow to Sri Lanka on a pitch where batting had been anything but easy.
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