In another bad weather marred third day which permitted just 5.2 overs of play, Dhananjaya de Silva moved towards his sixth Test century unbeaten on  87 with Sri Lanka on 282 for 6 from the overnight 263 in the first Test match against Pakistan yesterday.

The right hander displayed his urgency to beat the Hovering bad light as he struck two boundaries – a drive and a pull in inching towards his century having survived a scare when on 81 when he nearly edged a delivery from Naseem on to his leg stump.

The bad weather effect on the match took its toll with just two days more left and just the one innings leaving doubts about producing a decision in the historic return of test cricket to Pakistan after a decade when international cricket came to a standstill when countries boycotted playing following the aborted terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in 2009. It is significant that the resumption of cricket in Pakistan was largely due to Sri Lanka’s goodwill towards Pakistan with the Lankan establishment Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) supporting its friendly sub-continent neighbour by sending a T20 team for a match followed by a series this year which set the stage for the resumption of test cricket in the country.

CHIEF SCORES:

Sri Lanka 282/6 (91.5 Overs) Run rate: 3.07(D.M. de Silva n.o. 87, M.D.K. Perera n.o. 6)

By Srian Obeyesekere

-The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Sri Lanka Cricket-