Jayawardene Hits Another Ton Before England Fight Back

Jayawardene Hits Another Ton Before England Fight Back

Mahela Jayawardene (left) struck a fluent century and his wicket remained out of England's grasp until late in the day

©REUTERS / Action Images

Sri Lanka 238-6 (M Jayawardene 105) v England
Second Test, Colombo, day one
Scorecard

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene scored his second century in as many matches but England finished the stronger on the opening day of the second and final Test in Colombo.

Jayawardene arrived at the crease with his side struggling on 21 for two but his 105 in 216 balls revived his side before England hit back with late wickets, Sri Lanka closing on 238 for six.

James Anderson provided England's early breakthroughs as he had Tillakaratne Dilshan (14) and Kumar Sangakkara (0) caught behind off consecutive deliveries and Lahiru Thirimanne trapped in front for eight as he left an inswinger alone.

Jayawardene then added 124 with Thilan Samaraweera (54) for the fourth wicket and 62 with Angelo Mathews for the fifth before he was trapped in front by Graeme Swann.

Prasanna Jayawardene was well caught by Matthew Prior after Steven Finn found his edge to cap a strong fightback from England.

Finn thought he had Samaraweera caught at short leg much earlier in the day but replays proved inconclusive as to whether the ball had brushed his glove and he batted on, reaching his 28th half-century.

He fell when Tim Bresnan delivered an inswinger heading for middle stump which he could do nothing about and he was trapped in front.

Jayawardene, meanwhile, played as well as he had in Galle, hitting 11 fours and one huge six as he danced down the track and deposited Samit Patel into the stands.

Mathews was unbeaten on 41 at stumps having looked reasonably comfortable at the crease while Suraj Randiv had five.

Sri Lanka lead the series 1-0 courtesy of a 75-run win in Galle.

© Cricket World 2012