ZIM v SL, 1st Test Day 1 Review: Kusal Perera leads the charge as Lankan batsmen dominate

Kusal Perera was the star of the first day’s play of the first Test match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club. Kaushal Silva was one of those unlucky players to be denied a century while Dimuth Karunaratne helped himself to a wonderful half-century. Zimbabwe skipper Graeme Cremer then went onto impress with 3 wickets. Sadly, as far as Zimbabwe was concerned, it was the only positive they could take away.

The day began with stand-in Sri Lanka skipper Rangana Herath calling the toss correctly and making the decision to bat first. The decision was backed up by the simple fact that the wicket was a batting paradise and as flat as one could ask for. This began to assist the batsmen as they began to add runs under their belt.

Dimuth Karunaratne began the innings full of lust as he impressed with some impressive batsmanship. The openers toyed with the Zimbabwean bowling unit with some impressive strokeplay. However, in spite of all this, the Zimbabwe skipper was forced to make a change as soon as possible. This saw spin being introduced as soon as possible.

Thus, the first Lankan wicket fell as Karunaratne was the first to fall when the southpaw chipped the ball to Mawoyo stationed at short mid-wicket. Graeme Cremer was the beneficiary of the first wicket.

Kaushal Silva and Kusal Perera began to impress with some impressive batsmanship with the latter once again proving his mettle with the bat. Perera rolled back the years with some Sanath Jayasuriya-esque batting as he dispatched the Zimbabwe spinners to the fence at will.

Perera soon reached his ton one that came after stroking a number of boundaries. By the time he was dismissed, the southpaw had helped himself to 110 runs including 15 boundaries and 2 sixes.

Kusal Silva however, by this time had smashed his way to a wonderfully compiled half-century. For a man who had played second-fiddle for the most part of the encounter, the fact of the matter remained that he deserved the century more than any other batsman in the Lankan batting unit.

Kusal Silva also was denuded a ton and fell six runs short when Malcolm Waller dismissed him for an extraordinarily poor shot. Kusal Mendis, the rising star of Zimbabwe cricket for the most part was also removed quite shockingly when Peter Moor completed a good catch behind the stumps.

Thus, the Lankans ended the first day at 317/4 in their quota of 90 overs. However, at the end of the day, despite the score, there was no one anymore happier than Rangana Herath whose smile stretched from ear to ear.

Brief Scores: 

Sri Lanka, 1st innings: 317/4 (K Perera 110; G Cremer 3/82)