A record breaking day for Lanka
Mohandas Menon
The four hundreds in the Sri Lankan innings provided the eighth instance in Test cricket history where four or more batsmen made hundreds in the same innings. This was however Sri Lanka's first such feat in Tests. Only twice before Sri Lankan batsmen have scored three hundreds in the same innings - against Australia at this same venue in August 1992 and against India at the Premadasa Stadium at Colombo in August 1997.
Interestingly, only a day earlier five Pakistani batsmen scored hundreds against Bangladesh at Multan which equalled the record held by Australia against the West Indies at Kingston in June 1955. Incidentally, India now extends its dubious record of conceding four hundreds in the same innings for the fourth time, while no other team has conceded so many more than once!
The unbeaten partnership of 194 runs between Hashan Tillekeratne and debutant Thilan Samaraweera was Sri Lanka's best for the seventh wicket in Tests. The previous best was the 144 between Aravinda deSilva and Ravi Ratnayeke against Australia at Brisbane in December 1989. The partnership was also the highest ever by any team against India for this wicket bettering the previous best of 163 between New Zealanders Bert Sutcliffe and Bruce Taylor at Calcutta in March 1965.
Incidentally it was the highest "unbeaten" partnership for the seventh wicket in the annals of Test cricket. The previous highest "unbeaten" partnership was the 160 between the Indian pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Manoj Prabhakar against England at Manchester in August 1990.
All-rounder Samaraweera (103 not out) who was Sri Lanka's 86th Test player, became the only third Sri Lankan batsman to score a hundred on Test debut. Curiously, all the three batsmen appeared to be an unlikely candidate to score a hundred on debut. The other two were wicket-keepers - Brendon Kuruppu (201 not out) against New Zealand at the Colombo Cricket Club ground in April 1987 and Romesh Kaluwitharana (132 not out) against Australia at this very ground in August 1992. Samaraweera becomes the 47th Test batsman to record a hundred in the first innings of his debut match and the 71st to do so in the very first Test match (irrespective of the innings).
Samaraweera now joins three other Test batsmen who have the distinction of scoring a hundred in their very first Test innings while batting at number "eight". The others are: Indian Deepak Shodhan (110) against Pakistan at Calcutta in December 1952, New Zealander Bruce Taylor (105) against India also at Calcutta in March 1965 and Pakistani Azhar Mahmood (128 not out) against South Africa at Rawalpindi in October 1997.
He has also now become the first Sri Lankan to score a Test hundred in this position. The previous highest was the 62 by another all-rounder Ruwan Kalpage against Pakistan at Kandy in August 1994.
Sri Lanka's total of 610-6 dec was its second highest in Tests after its record 952-6 also against India at the Premadasa in August 1997.
