By Dhammika Ratnaweera reporting from Galle
The first test in Galle against the visiting England team was supposed to be the feast of Sri Lanka’s left-arm spin legend Rangana Herath as he had already announced his retirement from cricket after this match. With already eight wickets down in the English innings, Herath had to content with only one wicket to complete his 100 wickets at the venue where he made his test debut, as another spinner Dilruwan Perera made inroads to take half of the wickets fell on the day.
Taking four wicket for 70 runs, bowling only three over more than Rangana Herath, Dilruwan was the cynosure of all eyes on day one as he made important inroads to break English partnerships at every given occasion.
“This is Rangana Herath’s last match and I am very happy to be bowling alongside him. After his retirement, a lot will depend on the other spinners to contribute in bowling attack” said Dilruwan, who himself has a good record at Galle Stadium.
Perera said that their plan was to take early English wickets and vice captain Suranga Lakmal’s first spell taking two wickets added pressure on the Englishmen and it was easy for them to maintain the pressure and take wickets at every possible interval.
“The wicket is now behaving batsmen friendly as England recovered well after their early losses and I hope that Sri Lanka batters would find it easy for run scoring tomorrow” added Perera.
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