Sri Lanka wrap up easy victory

Colombo – Sri Lanka won their one-off Test match against Afghanistan by 10 wickets with a day to spare, with their opening batsmen chasing down an easy target of 56 in Colombo yesterday.

Afghanistan were bowled out for 296 in their second innings, setting Sri Lanka the low goal, with Dimuth Karunaratne (32 not out) and Nishan Madushka (22 not out) finishing the job within 7.2 overs.

Afghanistan were playing catch-up after conceding a lead of 241 runs in the first innings, but fought back well in their second dig with Ibrahim Zadran leading the way with a maiden Test hundred.

Rahmat Shah backed up the opening batter with a half-century but once the pair were dismissed, Afghanistan folded quickly.

Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya de Silva said Afghanistan did well on day two with the ball but his team stuck to their plan.

“When both Angelo (Mathews) and I got dismissed, it might not seem that bad but that was the point that Afghanistan felt they were back in the game,” he said.

“I think that was the crucial moment of the match. But our bowlers stuck to the plan all day (day three), not giving runs away and keeping it tight.”

Prabath Jayasuriya (above) finished with his seventh five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

“I’m really happy at the moment, the last couple of days were tough,” said Jayasuriya, named Man-of-the-Match. “We knew this was a batting-friendly wicket, so we were just trying to do the basics right.”

Six wickets fell in the morning session for 52 runs as the second new ball hurt the Afghans. –