During the day four of the Wellington Test between the hosts New Zealand and the visitors Sri Lanka, the visitors spent their full day without losing their any wicket.
Starting their second innings by trailing 296 runs, Sri Lanka ended the day three on 20/3 after losing their first three batsmen. Resuming the day four from that score, Sri Lanka ended the day on 259/3 while they are now trailing by just 37 runs.
Both the batsmen Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews remained unbeaten after the end of the full day’s play. Starting the day on just 5 runs, Mendis hit his sixth Test century and remained not out on 116 off 287 balls (12 fours). Meanwhile, Mathews began the day on 2 runs and hit his ninth Test century as he remained not out on 117 off 293 balls (11 fours).
Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis led the Sri Lanka charge with individual centuries against New Zealand on Day 4 of the opening Test in Wellington.#NZvSL REPORT 👇https://t.co/qCE4G6eIJ6 pic.twitter.com/uTV8mD1uID
— ICC (@ICC) December 18, 2018
Also watch: Angelo Mathews Gives Fitness Test After Scoring 9th Test Ton
They have provided an unbroken 246-run partnership for the fourth wicket. It is Sri Lanka’s highest partnership for any wicket in their second innings of a Test match. Their previous record was 240* runs partnership for the fourth wicket between Asanka Gurusinha and Arjuna Ranatunga against Pakistan at Colombo (PSS) in March 1986.
Earlier of this Test match, Sri Lanka scored 282 runs in their first innings after they were sent to bat first. In reply, New Zealand scored 578 runs, thanks to their opener Tom Latham’s brilliant unbeaten 264-run knock.
Here are some stats of the special day
- It was the fifth time when Sri Lanka spent a full day of a Test match without losing any wicket (excluded the interrupted days). No other team has done it for more than four times (India and West Indies).
- It was the 22nd time when an entire day of the Test match was spent wicketless (excluded the interrupted days). Before this day, the similar incident happened in the last time during the day one of the Bangladesh vs South Africa Test at Chittagong (CDS) (29 February 2008) when South Africa didn’t lose any of their wickets.
- It was the sixth time when the entire fourth day of the Test match was spent wicketless (excluded the interrupted days). Last time, it happened during the famous Eden Gardens (Kolkata) Test match between India and Australia (11 March 2001) where India didn’t lose any wicket in the full day’s play.
- It was the first time when Sri Lanka spent a full day of their away Test match without losing any wicket (excluded the interrupted days).
