Milestone For Vettori But Sri Lanka In Charge

Milestone For Vettori But Sri Lanka In Charge

Thilan Samaraweera celebrates his half-century.

©REUTERS/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds (SRI LANKA SPORT CRICKET) Picture Supplied by Action Images

Sri Lanka 262-3 (M Jayawardene 79no, Samaraweera 78) v
New Zealand
Scorecard | Ball-by-ball
Second Test, day one, Colombo

Daniel Vettori took his 300th Test wicket, earning him entry into an exclusive club of players who have 3,000 Test runs and 300 wickets, but Sri Lanka had the better of the opening day of the second Test in Colombo.

Mahela Jayawardene, who may well finish his career with 3,000 Test runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club, venue for the match, is unbeaten on 79 at stumps alongside Thilan Samaraweera, on 78.

New Zealand went in unchanged while Sri Lanka brought in Chamara Kapugedera, Dammika Prasad and Rangana Herath in place of Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekara and Ajantha Mendis before winning the toss and choosing to bat first.

They got off to a steady start before Tharanga Paranavitana became victim number 299 for Vettori, caught by Ross Taylor for 19.

Tillakaratne Dilshan was caught and bowled by Iain O'Brien for 29 and soon after captain Kumar Sangakkara had notched up 50, Vettori picked up wicket number 300 when he had the left-hander trapped in front, becoming the first left-arm spinner to reach the milestone.

Although he has 300 wickets, one of those came for the ICC World XI in 2005 but he is sure to pick up the one extra one he needs for 300 for his country in due course.

That was as good as it got for New Zealand as from 115 for three, Jayawardene and Samaraweera added 147 runs for the fourth wicket.

Samaraweera stroked ten fours on his way to a half-century, Jayawardene playing more patiently, reaching the boundary seven times.

Sri Lanka lead the two-match series 1-0 after a 202-run win in Galle.

Kapil Dev, Shane Warne, Sir Richard Hadlee, Shaun Pollock, Sir Ian Botham, Imran Khan and Chaminda Vaas are the other players to have achieved the 3000 runs/300 wickets double in Test cricket.

© Cricket World 2009

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