Sri Lanka vs New Zealand : First Test at Galle : Start Date – 18.08.09 : Second day’s highlights

The overnight partnership of 159 runs for the fourth wicket between DPMD Jayawardene and TT Samaraweera ended when the latter was dismissed for 114. The partnership yielded 166 runs for the fourth wicket.

TT Samaraweera completed his hundred and was finally dismissed for 159. It was his tenth hundred of his test career. He became the seventh Sri Lankan batsmen to registere ten or more test hundreds. The other six are – DPMD Jayawardene {26}, PA de Silva {20}, KC Sangakkara {19}, MS Atapattu {16}, ST Jayasuriya {14} and HP Tilakaratne {11}.

TT Samaraweera’s 159 in this innings represent the 56^th occasion of a Sri Lankan batsman registering 150 plus runs in an innings against various oppositions.

TT Samaraweera’s 159 in this innings represent the third occasion of his registering 150 plus runs in an innings. The other two occasions are – 231 vs Pakistan at Karachi in Feb 2009 and 214 vs Pakistan at Lahore in Mar 09.

TT Samaraweera with his 159 in this innings took his run aggregate to 895 during the calendar year 2009. Only AJ Strauss with 941 runs is ahead of him in 2009. At the end of Sri Lankan first innings, TT Samaraweera {129} has the record of most boundary fours in calendar year 2009. Next to him is AJ Strauss with 117 boundary fours.

TT Samaraweera’s 159 contained 24 boundary fours providing the 31^st occasion of a Sri Lankan batsman registering 24 or more boundary fours in an innings against various oppositions.

TT Samaraweera’s 159 contained 24 boundary fours providing the fourth occasion of a Sri Lankan batsman registering 24 or more boundary fours in an innings against New Zealand. The other three occasions are – 40 boundary fours by PA de Silva in his 267 at Wellington in Jan 91, 24 boundary fours by DSB Kuruppu in his 201 not out at Col-CCC in Apr 1987 and 24 boundary fours by HP Tilakaratne in his 144 at Col-PSS in Apr 2003.

BB McCullum pouched four catches in this innings which represent his best performance in an innings against Sri Lanka. His previous best was three catches in second innings at Christchurch in Dec 2006 and three catches in first innings at Wellington in Dec 2006. McCullum was playing his first test against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka.

TT Samaraweera’s 159 in this innings represent the seventh occasion of a Sri Lankan batsman registering 150 plus runs against New Zealand. The other six are – 201* by DSB Kuruppu at Col-CCC in Apr 1987, 267 by PA de Silva at Wellington in Jan 1991, 153 by RS Mahanama at Moratuwa in Nov 1992, 167 by DPMD Jayawardene at Galle in Jun 1998, 156* by KC Sangakkara at Wellington in Dec 2006 and 152* by LPC Silva at Wellington in Dec 2006.

DPMD Jayawardene’s 114 and TT Samaraweera’s 159 in this innings provide the third occasion of two Sri Lankan batsmen scoring hundreds in an innings against New Zealand. The other two occasions are – at Dunedin in Mar 1995 {in second innings – AP Gurusinha – 127 and HP Tilakaratne – 108} and at Napier in Apr 2005 { in first innings – MS Atapattu – 127 and DPMD Jayawardene – 147}.

DPMD Jayawarden’s 114 in this innings represent the 46^th occasion of a Sri Lankan batsman registering a hundred while batting at number four. TT Samaraweera’s 159 in this innings represent the 18th occasion of a Sri Lankan batsman registering a hundred while batting at number five. TT Samaraweera’s 159 in this innings represent the seventh hundred scored by him while batting at number five.

DPMD Jayawardene’s 114 and TT Samaraweera’s 159 in this innings provide the fourth occasion of Sri Lankan batsmen batting at number four and five registered hundreds against various oppositions. The other three occasions are – against India at Kandy in Sep 1985 {RL Dias – 106 and LR Mendis – 124 in second innings}, against India at Col-SSC in Jul 2008 {DPMD Jayawardene – 136 and TT Samaraweera – 127 in first innings} and against Pakistan at Karachi in Feb 2009 {DPMD Jayawardene -240 and TT Samaraweera – 231 in first innings}

It is interesting to note that out of the four occasions, three of them had DPMD Jayawardene and TT Samaraweera scoring hundreds batting at number four and five.

JS Patel returned with figures of 24.0-3-120-0 in this innings providing the 30^th occasion of a New Zealand bowler going wicketless conceding 100 plus runs in an innings. JS Patel is the second bowler to go wicketless conceding 100 plus runs in an innings against Sri Lanka, the other being C Pringle who had figures of 31.0-4-116-0 at Wellington in Jan 1991. Thus JS Patel’s figures are the most expensive figures in this category of statistics against Sri Lanka.

At the end of the second day’s play, M Muralitharan’s spell read 6.0-2-7-0. With these two maiden overs he has an aggregate of 1756 maiden overs in his test career. He needs to bowl six more maiden over to wrest the present record of most maiden over by a bowler held by SK Warne of Australia who has bowled 1761 maiden overs.