Captain Dimuth Karunaratne led from the front as Sri Lanka chased down a record total in Galle to win the first Test against New Zealand by six wickets.
Karunaratne (122) slammed his ninth Test century along with enjoying a record-equalling opening partnership of 161 with Lahiru Thirimanne, who made 64, as Sri Lanka collected their first points (60) of the ICC World Test Championship.
Former Sri Lan✅ka captain Angelo Mathews scored an unbeaten 28 as the hosts finished off the game before lunch on Sunday afternoon.
Winning moment!
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC)
Brief scores: New Zealand 249 (Ross Taylor ꦇ86; Akila Dananjaya 5-80, Suranga Lakmal 4-29) and 285 (BJ Watling 77; Lasith Embuldeniya 4-99) lost to Sri Lanka 267 (Niroshan Dickwella 61; Ajaz Patel 5-89) and 268/4 (Dimuth Karunaratne 122, Lahiru Thirimanne 64; Tim Southee 1-33) by six wickets.
Sr🥂i Lanka complete a record chase at Galle to take a 1-0 lead in the series and collect 60 points in the ICC World Te🍌st Championship
NZ 249 & 285 v SL 267 💞& 268/4 (D Karunaratne 122, L Thirimanne 64, A Mathews 28*) SL won by 🐽6 wickets!
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC)
“It was not easy to bat in the fourth innings. We wanted a good partnership and that’s what me and Thirimanne discussed. Once you get set, you got to finish the job.
“We saw (Ross) Taylor and (B.J.) Watling bat on this pitch. So we were saying it’s not too dangerous, we just have to spend some time in the middle,” Karunaratne said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
Co🔜ngratulations to and the team. Great stuff boys. Keep going. Wel batted ( leading from the front) and Suranga. Wel bowled , Suranga, lasith, Lahiru. 👏👏👏👏👏👏
— Dhammika Prasad (@imDhammika)
What an awesome day .. called a memorable test win for L🐲ong run to keep up with the and now some ME time on beach I grew up while I wait for family to land
— Russel Arnold (@RusselArnold69)
Excellღent stuff, Sri Lanka. To chase down 268 in the fourth inningsꦍ, in Galle, tremendous job. Well led by Dimuth Karunaratne.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS)
Highest successful 4th inngs run chases since 2016:
388 SL v Zim Colombo 2017
322 WI v Eng Headingley 2017
304 SL v SA Durban 2019
268 SL v NZ Galle 2019Chase masters.
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks)
'Captain Lloyd' with a fantastic 122 🏏 leads Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 to a record win in Galle. 3rd successive Test win for him as Captain maintaining a 100% winning record. Now he averages 101 in the 4th innings in Galle.
— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen)
There hasn't been a single drawn Test in Sri Lanka in five years. 25th straight match today with an outright result.
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad)
