Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe 2017: One-off Test, Day 1 – Statistical Highlights

Zimbabwe carried on their spirit into the one-off Test from the ODI series as they ended the first day on 344/8 recovering from early troubles. After electing to bat first, the visitors were reduced to 38/3 and 70/4 before Lunch by the Sri Lankans. But valuable partnerships surrounding Craig Ervine helped the 10th ranked Test nation to a respectable total. Ervine remained unbeaten on 151 and will be aiming for a big one if he continues to get the same support on day 2 as well.

Here we look at all the stats and records created during the day’s play.

1 – Sikandar Raza became the first Zimbabwe player to hit a six on the very first ball he faced in a Test inning. He hit a six off Rangana Herath’s bowling on the first ball he faced in this innings.

2 – Craig Ervine became the 2nd Zimbabwe player to score a century in Sri Lanka in Test cricket after Andy Flower. Overall, he is the 4th Zimbabwe player to score a century against Sri Lanka in Tests.

7 – Rangana Herath is now the 7th player to take 250 Test wickets at home. He is the 2nd Sri Lankan after Muttiah Muralitharan to take 250+ wickets in Test cricket at home.

10 – Craig Ervine became the 10th Zimbabwe player to score a 150+ in Test cricket. Hamilton Masakadza was the last one to score a 150+ which he did in 2014 in Bangladesh.

15 – Dinesh Chandimal became the 15th Sri Lankan captain in Test cricket and the 5th player to lead Sri Lanka to lead them in all 3 International formats.

19 – Number of players including Craig Ervine who have scored a 150+ in a Test innings against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. The last one was Younis Khan (177*) in 2015.

151* – Ervine’s 151* is the 2nd highest individual score in Test cricket by a visiting batsman at Colombo, RPS. New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming scored 174* vs Sri Lanka in 1998.

344/8 – Zimbabwe’s total of 344 on day 1 is the 4th highest for a visiting team on the first day of a Test match in Sri Lanka. Windies’ 362/2 at Galle in 2010 is the highest on opening day for a visiting team in Sri Lanka.

377 – Wickets Rangana Herath has taken in Test cricket so far; the 16th most by any player. He went past Waqar Younis (373) and Malcolm Marshall (376) by taking 4 wickets on day 1.

2012 – Last time before Ervine, a non-Asian batsman scored 150+ in Test cricket in Sri Lanka was Kevin Pietersen (151) at PSS, Colombo in 2012.