Dimuth Karunaratne joins select group with fourth-innings hundred
Stats highlights from an outstanding run-chase in Galle
S Rajesh18-Aug-20193 – Sri Lanka openers who have scored a fourth-innings century in Tests. Dimuth Karunaratne joins a select group which includes only Kusal Mendis (102 in Port of Spain last year), and Sanath Jayasuriya, who achieved the feat twice, both against Australia, in Adelaide and in Kandy.ESPNcricinfo Ltd4 – Sri Lanka batsmen who have scored fourth-innings centuries in wins. The others in this group are Aravinda de Silva (against Zimbabwe in 1998), Mahela Jayawardene (against South Africa in 2006), and Kusal Perera, also against South Africa, earlier this year. The two wins against South Africa were both by one wicket.ESPNcricinfo Ltd4 – Instances of Sri Lanka scoring more than 268 in the fourth innings to win a Test. Their highest remains 391 (for six), against Zimbabwe in Colombo a couple of years ago. This is also the second-highest fourth-innings total in Galle, and the first time a team has successfully chased down a fourth-innings target of more than 100 here. The previous highest target chased successfully was 99, by Sri Lanka against Pakistan in 2014.
3 – Fourth-innings hundreds in Tests so far in 2019. The last batsman to score one was also from Sri Lanka, when Kusal Perera scored that unforgettable 153 in Durban in a thrilling one-wicket win. These are the only fourth-innings hundreds in wins this year; Roston Chase’s unbeaten 102 against England was in a defeat.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 – Fourth-innings Test century for Karunaratne. His previous highest in the last innings was 97, also in Galle, against India in 2017. Karunaratne averages 38.50 in fourth innings in all Tests, but in Galle his scores are fantastic – 60*, 97, 26 and 122, for an average of 101.67.2 – Opening partnerships which have yielded more than 161 in the fourth innings of a Test match in Asia. The stand between Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne has only been bettered by the Geoff Boycott-Mike Brearley stand of 185 in Hyderabad (Pakistan) way back in 1978, and by Mohsin Khan and Shoaib Mohammad, who added 173 against England in Lahore in 1984.
30 – Instances, in the history of Test cricket of an opener scoring a fourth-innings century in a Test victory. Karunaratne is the first Sri Lankan to feature in this list. The last opener to achieve this was Shan Masood, against Sri Lanka in Pallekele in 2015, when Pakistan chased down the target of 377 for the loss of just three wickets. Incidentally, the last ten such instances have all featured left-hand openers: Karunaratne, Masood, Chris Rogers, Graeme Smith (four times), Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, and Matthew Hayden. The last right-hander in the list was Mohammad Hafeez, back in 2003.25 – Consecutive Tests in Sri Lanka which have had a decisive result. The last draw in Sri Lanka was way back in July 2014, and even that was a close shave, with South Africa surviving to finish on 159 for 8 in the fourth innings, after being set a target of 369. This is in fact the second-longest streak of successive Tests ending in a decisive result in any country in Test history. Incredibly, the longest such streak ran for 87 matches in Australia beginning with the first ever Test in that country and ending with the second match in Sydney post World War II. The last 20 matches in England (excluding the ongoing Ashes Test at Lord’s) and the last 19 matches in South Africa have also seen decisive results. Along with the current Sri Lanka streak, these two also find place in the top five longest such streaks in Test history, which bears out the fact that there have been fewer draws played out in Tests in the recent years.