A gritty century from Kaushal Silva gave Sri Lanka a commanding 288-run second innings lead Tuesday, dimming Australia's hopes of a consolation win in the third and final Test in Colombo. Sri Lanka, who are pushing for a rare series whitewash after winning the first two Tests, were 312 for eight at stumps on the fourth day at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
First innings centurion Dhananjaya de Silva was unbeaten on 44 with Suranga Lakmal yet to get off the mark at close of play. But the day belonged to Silva, who batted with six stitches on the webbing of his little finger after injuring himself while fielding on Monday to make a composed 115.
The 30-year-old, mixing dogged defence and controlled aggression, put together a crucial 90-run partnership with first innings centurion Dinesh Chandimal to thwart the Australian attack. Silva, who regularly received treatment for his injured left finger during breaks, reached his century with a boundary off Adam Voges as he burst into a celebration. Off-spinner Nathan Lyon, who claimed four wickets, trapped Chandimal lbw for 43 in the final session to break the stand.
Silva, who survived an lbw appeal against Lyon after a successful umpire review in the first session, finally fell to the left-arm spin of Jon Holland in the 87th over. Australia made further inroads into the Sri Lankan line-up late in the day, but de Silva ensured that the hosts maintained their domination of the match heading into day five. Scoreboard Sri Lanka 1st innings 355 (D. Chandimal 132, D. de Silva 129; M. Starc 5-63, N. Lyon 3-110) Australia 1st innings 379 (S. Marsh 130, S. Smith 119; R. Herath 6-81)
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Sri Lanka 2nd innings
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D. Perera lbw b Starc 8
D. Karunaratne st Nevill b Lyon 22
K. Silva c Smith b Holland 115
K. Perera c Nevill b Holland 24
K. Mendis lbw b Starc 18
A. Mathews c Smith b Lyon 26
D. Chandimal lbw b Lyon 43
D. de Silva not out 44
R. Herath c Smith b Lyon 5
S. Lakmal not out 0
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Extras: (b4, lb3) 7
Total: (8 wkts; 95 overs) 312
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Fall of wickets: 1-8 (D. Perera), 2-44 (Karunaratne), 3-69 (K. Perera), 4-98 (Mendis), 5-156 (Mathews), 6-246 (Chandimal), 7-276 (Silva), 8-297 (Herath)
Bowling: Starc 17-4-58-2, Lyon 37-7-123-4, Holland 20-4-72-2, Hazlewood 12-2-16-0, Smith 2-0-13-0, M. Marsh 3-1-3-0, M. Henriques 2-0-9-0, A. Voges 2-0-11-0
To bat: L. Sandakan
Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZL) and Sundaram Ravi (IND) TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)
Reserve umpire: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI).
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