Sri Lanka respond strongly through Nissanka century

■Have a lot to play for trailing by only 126 runs with 6 wickets in hand

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PATHUM Nissanka scored his first Test hundred at home, a career best 187 as Sri Lanka responding strongly to Bangladesh's first innings score of 495 ended the third day of the first cricket Test at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday on 368-4, to trail by 126 runs with 6 wickets in hand.

Thanks to the batting tempo set by Sri Lanka, the draw is still quite far away. Sri Lanka didn't waste a lot of time in removing the last Bangladeshi wicket with Asitha Fernando ending the innings for figures of 4/86. The openers Nissanka and his new partner debutant Lahiru Udara got them off to a positive start. Udara began shakily but recovered to stroke some sublime boundaries. But the introduction of spin saw him exit. Taijul Islam got some drift and caused an error from the right-hander when he popped an easy return catch with his score on 29. It was the first time in 29 years that two right-handers had opened for Sri Lanka, the last occasion being Roshan Mahanama and Chandika Hathurusingha against Australia in the infamous Melbourne Boxing Day Test of 1995.