Inexperienced Afghanistan were persistent through parts of the day, picking up six wickets

Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Feb-2024Angelo Mathews amassed 141, Dinesh Chandimal struck a 15th Test century, and together the pair put on 232 for the fourth wicket, as Sri Lanka surged to a 212-run lead on a flat SSC surface. A thoroughly inexperienced Afghanistan attack were doughty through parts of the day, picking up six wickets, but were up against batters intent on driving home Sri Lanka’s advantage.Debutant Naveed Zadran and legspinner Qais Ahmad picked up two wickets each, with Ahmed dismissing Mathews hit wicket off what turned out to be the last ball of the day. Mathews had gone deep in the crease to smack a legside long hop for four through deep backward square. But in the follow-through, the toe of his bat clipped the top of his leg stump, leaving Mathews to sink to his knees in despair.Still, it was a tough day for the bowlers. Left-arm spinner Zia-ur-Rehman – also playing his first Test – put in some of the tightest spells on a pitch that had not begun to turn yet, but could not get a breakthrough from his 28 overs. Mohammad Saleem, the third debutant in this attack, could not quite finish off the day, walking off the field after delivering the first ball of his 13th over with a suspected leg injury.It was the Mathews-Chandimal stand that drove Sri Lanka’s dominance on day two. Mathews had been tested by Nijat Masood’s short ball early in the day, but once he saw through that period, settled into one of his steady innings, finding frequent singles square of the wicket. He’d occasionally look for the big shots as well, particularly when a few dot balls had built. He hit each of the spinners for sixes in the second session, lofting Rehman into the sightscreen first, before launching Ahmed over long on much later, and adding another six – cow corner off Ahmed this time – in the third session.Angelo Mathews notched up Test century No. 16•AFP/Getty ImagesHis tempo rarely changed, right through his 259-ball innings. His first fifty came off 100 balls, his second off 85. And beyond those early battles with Masood, no one really looked like troubling him for long. This was his 16th Test hundred, which brings him up to fourth-equal on the Sri Lankan all-time list, alongside Tillakaratne Dilshan, Marvan Atapattu, and Dimuth Karunaratne.Chandimal, likewise, did not have particularly difficult battles with the spinners, who did the bulk of the bowling after lunch. Where Mathews tended to stay in the crease, Chandimal was much more given to venturing out, as he looked for either singles down the ground, or the big shots inside out over extra cover, as well as over midwicket. His scoring areas were largely in front of the stumps, with very little coming through third man.His century was quicker than Mathews’ coming off 168 balls. He was eventually out for 107, nicking an away seamer from Naveed behind, after Afghanistan had taken the second new ball. That wicket brought two more – that of Dhananjaya de Silva, who thought he had struck his first ball past Hashmatullah Shahidi at mid-off, only for Shahidi to make a diving stop, and throw down the stumps while still on the ground before de Silva even got close to recovering his ground (he had travelled three-quarters of the way of the surface and Mathews had not committed to the run). And then Mathews’ wicket meant Sri Lanka lost 3 for 30 to end the day.Before Mathews and Chandimal took the game away, Afghanistan had had a decent first session, even if there was little chance of them preventing a significant Sri Lanka lead. Naveed had had Nishan Madushka caught to a leg gully trap in the third over, before Masood bounced Kusal Mendis out, having him caught at fine leg for 21.Karunaratne ensured Sri Lanka’s total raced past Afghanistan’s though, finding easy singles, and proactively seeking boundaries, as he barreled ahead at better than a run-a-ball. Having started the day on 42, he strode to a half-century off the seventh ball he faced. He was out for 77 off 72, coming down the track to make an Ahmed delivery a full toss, but then promptly clipping it to short midwicket.