Lankan celebrates captaincy

COLOMBO: Hashan Tillakaratne celebrated his promotion to the Sri Lankan Test cricket captaincy with an unbeaten century yesterday before heavy rain halted the fourth day’s play and pushed the series opener against New Zealand toward a draw.

Tillakaratne was unbeaten on 126 after sharing a brisk century partnership with Romesh Kaluwitharana, who smashed a rapid 76 on return to Test cricket after a two-year layoff, to lift Sri Lanka to 424 for six when rain washed out play 50 minutes before the scheduled tea interval. The unexpected showers robbed 48 overs of play yesterday. With Sri Lanka still 91 runs adrift of New Zealand’s first-innings total of 515 for seven declared there seems little chance of a result. Kumar Dharmasena was unbeaten on 19, while Tillakaratne remained not out after registering his 11th Test century.

The left-handed Tillakaratne was appointed skipper after opener Sanath Jayasuriya quit earlier this month. He had deputised as the Sri Lankan captain in a 1999 Test against Pakistan when the then skipper Arjuna Ranatunga was injured. The captain said there was still a lot to play in this match, even if chances of a result were remote. “It’s not about me scoring a century, but we’re looking to overhaul New Zealand’s score,” Tillakaratne said. “Taking a first innings lead tomorrow will boost our confidence for the Second Test,” he said. “I’m glad to have got the runs when Sri Lanka needed it. It was a good batting track and we should not have been under any pressure.”

Resuming at the overnight total of 267 for four, Sri Lanka lost Mahela Jayawardena (58) without addition to the total when he was caught behind off medium-pacer Jacob Oram. A member of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup winning side, Kaluwitharana went to the crease and made his attacking intentions evident by hitting two boundaries each off speedster Shane Bond and Oram. Most of his 13 boundaries were from cuts and square drives and he dominated the partnership with Tillakaratne, who only contributed 26 to the 107-run stand. Kaluwitharana’s 90-ball knock culminated when he skied offspinner Paul Wiseman to present Mathew Sinclair an easy catch at mid-wicket. Tillakaratne and Kaluwitharana combined to take Sri Lanka past the day’s first target of avoiding the follow-on, which loomed large the previous afternoon. Tillakaratne has so far hit 21 boundaries from 294 deliveries in 408 minutes, while Dharmasena has batted for 98 minutes to compile 19 from 65 balls.