Sri Lanka skipper Tillekaratne Dilshan lived up to his challenge of proving England were wrong to brand his team sitting ducks against short-pitched fast bowling as Sri Lanka overcame some frightening moments to set a packed Lord’s cricket ground alight with the highest opening stand of 207 on English soil and a maiden century on the second day of the second cricket Test here in London yesterday.
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| Tillekeratne Dilshan gestures after reaching 100. He was run out for 127. |
Making his first century on English soil and most significantly at the sport’s most hallowed ground, Dilshan transformed himself from the boisterous showman to a graceful act as he led from the front playing a truly captain’s innings while curbing some of his favourite strokeplay to avoid a trap on the leg-side boundary.
When he brought up his hundred with two sixes and 11 fours it had spoken a volume and fittingly was given a standing ovation by the almost 30,000 strong crowd after initially taking the fight to the bowlers and dispatching a ball from paceman Chris Tremlett into the stands.
But nothing may have been possible had co-opener and Dilshan’s partner, the unassuming Tharanga Paranavithana not rode his luck by surviving the most threatening over of the day, the first of the innings bowled by Stuart Broad which beat his bat three times.
When the ball finally found the edge of Paranavithana’s bat with his score on 13 he came across a jackpot when Alistair Cook at third slip dropped the ball at a time frustration among the English pace trio of Broad, Tremlett and Steven Finn began to favour the Sri Lankans.
With the wicket-taking balls seen off, all Dilshan and Paranavithana had to do was settle in for a long drawn battle to either save the Test or take the contest into the England camp after conceding a 486 total to the host nation.
Paranavithana had only himself to blame when he slashed at a moving ball outside the off-stump, after leaving out many, to be caught in the slips with a century possible for the taking after reaching 65 with 10 fours.
The double century stand between Dilshan and Paranavithana also helped overcome a club-level bowling performance by the Sri Lankans that made the England pair of Matt Prior and Stuart Broad plunder runs at will with 144 produced in the morning session.
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