Perera hits ton on debut to put SL in command
harare — Kusal Perera struck his maiden Test century as Sri Lanka took control of the first Test against Zimbabwe on the opening day at Harare Sports Club on Saturday.
Perera took advantage of two dropped catches to make an attacking 110, while Kaushal Silva scored 94 as Sri Lanka piled up 317 for four after winning the toss and electing to bat on a batsmanfriendly surface.
Zimbabwe had hoped to push an under-strength Sri Lankan side in their 100th Test match, and first under new coach Heath Streak, but were instead dogged by familiar problems with their fielding.
Perera survived chances on 15 and 30, while Silva was put down on 89 and fellow opener Dimuth Karunaratne, who made 56, was dropped in the second over of the match.
Zimbabwe did pull things back in the final hour of the day, with leg-spinner Graeme Cremer picking up two wickets to close with figures of 3 for 82. —
Scoreboard
D. Karunaratne c Mawoyo b Cremer 56 K. Silva c Williams b Waller 94 K. Perera c Waller b Perera 110 K. Mendis c Moor b Cremer 34 U. Tharanga not out 13 D. de Silva not out 10 Extras: 0 A. Gunaratne, D. Perera, R. Herath, S. Lakmal, L. Kumara. 1-123 (Karunaratne), 2-198 (Silva), 3-282 (Mendis), 4-307 (Perera). Mpofu 20-5-62-0, Mumba 15-2-65-0, Tiripano 14-4-37-0, Cremer 21-2-82-3, Masakadza 6-2-22-0, Williams 8-0-24-0, Waller 6-0-25-1. Tino Mawoyo, Brian Chari, Hamilton Masakadza, Craig Ervine, Sean Williams, Malcolm Waller, Peter Moor (wk), Graeme Cremer (capt), Donald Tiripano, Carl Mumba, Chris Mpofu. Sri Lanka