Warnapura hits unbeaten 50 as Sri Lanka closes rain-shortened first day at 85-2
Thursday, 24 July 2008
COLOMBO, July 23 (AP): Malinda Warnapura hit his third test half-century Wednesday as Sri Lanka reached 85-2 at close of a rain-shortened opening day of the first cricket test against India.
Overnight and morning rain and wet ground meant only 22 overs were bowled in two hours.
Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat first but soon lost his opener Michael Vandort with the total at seven.
Vandort (3) played at an Ishant Sharma delivery that was rising and moving away from his body, and was caught behind by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.
Left-armer Zaheer Khan ended a threatening 50-run partnership between Malinda Warnapura and Kumar Sangakkara (12) when he forced an edge off Sangakkara to Rahul Dravid at slip.
The two dismissed batsmen appeared to have wasted good batting conditions at the Sinhalese Sports Club, with the pitch offering little threat despite sweating under covers for hours.
Warnapura was unbeaten on 50 from 74 balls with six boundaries.
Jayawardene was batting on 16 when the batsmen accepted the umpires' offer of bad light.
Sharma bowled tidily to finish with 1-21 after seven overs while Khan returned 1-42.
The test marks the beginning of the International Cricket Council's experimentation with a system which allows players to refer on-field decisions to a TV replay review.
In addition to the existing challenges to run outs and stumpings, players will now be able to challenge the likes of lbw verdicts and catches. Each side is allowed three challenges in each innings and the number of challenges remains intact if a decision is overturned using the system. However, there were no referrals during the brief amount of play Wednesday.
"The way we look at it is what's better or what's worse for the game," said Dave Richardson, the ICC's general manager of cricket, speaking to reporters before the match began.
"The umpires making mistakes and being accused of cheating, teams threatening to leave the country and flying home and boards criticising the umpires? Or a system where the umpire is given an opportunity to review his own decision and make a final decision himself ?"
Overnight and morning rain and wet ground meant only 22 overs were bowled in two hours.
Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat first but soon lost his opener Michael Vandort with the total at seven.
Vandort (3) played at an Ishant Sharma delivery that was rising and moving away from his body, and was caught behind by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.
Left-armer Zaheer Khan ended a threatening 50-run partnership between Malinda Warnapura and Kumar Sangakkara (12) when he forced an edge off Sangakkara to Rahul Dravid at slip.
The two dismissed batsmen appeared to have wasted good batting conditions at the Sinhalese Sports Club, with the pitch offering little threat despite sweating under covers for hours.
Warnapura was unbeaten on 50 from 74 balls with six boundaries.
Jayawardene was batting on 16 when the batsmen accepted the umpires' offer of bad light.
Sharma bowled tidily to finish with 1-21 after seven overs while Khan returned 1-42.
The test marks the beginning of the International Cricket Council's experimentation with a system which allows players to refer on-field decisions to a TV replay review.
In addition to the existing challenges to run outs and stumpings, players will now be able to challenge the likes of lbw verdicts and catches. Each side is allowed three challenges in each innings and the number of challenges remains intact if a decision is overturned using the system. However, there were no referrals during the brief amount of play Wednesday.
"The way we look at it is what's better or what's worse for the game," said Dave Richardson, the ICC's general manager of cricket, speaking to reporters before the match began.
"The umpires making mistakes and being accused of cheating, teams threatening to leave the country and flying home and boards criticising the umpires? Or a system where the umpire is given an opportunity to review his own decision and make a final decision himself ?"