By: M. Shamil Amit

Colombo, Feb. 2 (Daily Mirror) - Sri Lanka ended in a strong position at 80 for no loss with openers Nishan Madushka unbeaten on 36 and Dimuth Karunaratne on 42 on the opening day of the one-off Test match against Afghanistan at the SSC Grounds in Maitland Place.

This was after Sri Lanka’s bowling trio of right-arm pacie Vishwa Fernando, left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya and left-arm pacie Asitha Fernando shared 10 wickets between them to bowl out the visitors for 198.

The Afghans began their innings in an inauspicious start with the loss of their first wicket in the second ball of the first over.

Rahmat Shah along with debutant Noor Ali Zadran came to the rescue with the pair putting on a valuable 57-run stand for the second wicket.

Shah joined by Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi saw the side through to the lunch break with Afghanistan on 90 for two.

But the post-lunch session turned out to be a nightmare for the visitors as they lost two quick wickets, first of Skipper Shahidi after he had added 52 for the third with Shah.

They lost another wicket one run later and were 110 for four at that stage. Shah shared a stand of 45 runs for the fifth wicket with Ikram Alikhil before he became a victim to spinner Jayasuriya having made 91 which included 13 boundaries.

From thereon, the late-order batting fumbled as they succumbed to Sri Lanka’s bowling trio and lost wickets at regular intervals.

In fact, Afghanistan lost their last five wickets for the addition of just 43 runs with Vishwa bagging four scalps while Prabath and Asitha shared six wickets between them.

Afghanistan 1st innings

• I. Zadran lbw b A. Fernando 00
• A. Zadran c and b V. Fernando 31
• R. Shah c Sadeera b Jayasuriya 91
• H. Shahidi c Sadeera b V. Fernando 17
• N. Jamal b Jayasuriya 00
• I. Alikhil c Madushka b V. Fernando 21
• Q. Ahmad lbw b Jayasuriya 21
• Z. Rehman lbw b V. Fernando 04
• N. Masood c and b A. Fernando 12
• N. Zadran not out 00
• M. Saleem b A. Fernando 00
• Extras: (w1) 01
• TOTAL: (All out in 62.4 overs) 198
• Fall: 1-0, 2-57, 3-109, 4-110, 5-155, 6-169, 7-182, 8-190, 9-198
• Bowling: A. Fernando 14.4-1-24-3, V. Fernando 12-1-51-4, C. Gunasekara 9-1-50-0, P. Jayasuriya 25-7-67-3, D. de Silva 2-0-6-0

Sri Lanka 1st innings

• N. Madushka not out 36
• D. Karunaratne not out 42
• Extras: (lb1, nb1) 02
• TOTAL: (For no loss in 14 overs) 80
• Bowling: N. Masood 4-1-18-0, M. Saleem 3-0-19-0, N. Zadran 4-0-22-0, Z. Rehman 3-0-20-0

(Pix by: Kushan Pathiraja)