(Reuters) – Sri Lanka took complete control of the second test against New Zealand yesterday as batting sensation Kamindu Mendis scored the fifth century of his young career and helped the hosts post a mammoth 602-5 declared on day two in Galle.
New Zealand were 22-2 at stumps, still trailing by 580 runs, after Asitha Fernando and Prabath Jayasuriya struck early blows to remove both openers.
Local boy Kamindu, who made a hundred in the opening test, ground the Black Caps to dust during his unbeaten 182 earlier as he became the fastest Asian to 1,000 test runs by reaching the milestone in his 13th innings.
The left-hander got there in superb style, stepping out and hitting a huge six off Rachin Ravindra, to better the effort of India’s Vinod Kambli in 1994 by an innings.
He also joined Australian great Don Bradman as the second-quickest to the mark after Herbert Sutcliffe and Everton Weekes managed it in 12 innings.
Kamindu stitched together an unbroken 200-run stand with Kusal Mendis, who scored his 10th century and was not out on 106 when Sri Lanka declared their first innings. The pair were especially brutal in the afternoon session as they looked to put Sri Lanka in a commanding position a few days after the hosts won the opening game of the two-match series by 63 runs at the same venue.
Resuming on 306-3, Sri Lanka trotted along nicely but lost Angelo Mathews for 88 against the run of play when he miscued a sweep off Glenn Phillips to hand the part-time off-spinner his second big wicket after centurion Dinesh Chandimal.
Dhananjaya de Silva fell for 44 while attempting a similar stroke as Phillips struck again on the stroke of lunch but not before the Sri Lankan skipper had guided his side past 400 to heap the pressure on New Zealand.
Kamindu delighted fans with some effortless batting during that 107-run stand and he returned after the break to bring up his fifth century in his eighth game to reaffirm his status as the new rising star of test cricket.
After the 25-year-old reached his milestone, it was the turn of Kusal to shine and he raised the scoring rate with some heavy hitting before taking the team past 500 runs with a massive six off Ravindra in the 144th over.
Both batsmen continued to pick off the runs and helped the team cross the 600-run barrier and leave the tired tourists with a daunting task.
