Sri Lanka’s new player, Milan Rathnayake, set a new Test record that had stood for 41 years by scoring the highest number of runs for a player in the number 9 position in men’s red-ball cricket. At 28 years old, he beat India’s Balwinder Sandhu’s record of 71 runs, which was achieved against Pakistan in Hyderabad in 1983. During the first day of the first Test match between Sri Lanka and England in Manchester, the Sri Lankan team put up a strong fight, with Rathnayake playing a key role in the action.
In his first Test match, Rathnayake went to bat at position nine when England’s strong bowling team had already made Sri Lanka’s score 113/7. The fast bowlers, Chris Woakes (3/32) and Gus Atkinson (2/48), were key in taking out Sri Lanka’s top players.
Rathnayake stayed calm and scored 72 runs from 135 balls, helping Sri Lanka reach 236 before the first day of the opening match ended.
Rathnayake teamed up with Sri Lanka’s captain, Dhananjaya de Silva, and together they added 63 runs for the 8th wicket.
Bashir’s throw-like pitch invited Rathnayake to hit a high shot. The Sri Lankan player tried to hit it high but didn’t succeed. Woakes, standing in the middle of the field, easily caught the ball and sent the Sri Lankan player back to the changing room.
When Sri Lanka was all out at 236, the first two players for England, Ben Duckett and Daniel Lawrence, quickly got England started with a fast start.
Even though Zak Crawley wasn’t there, the two players helped England get ahead. In just four rounds, Duckett and Lawrence hit the ball over the fence three times.
At the end of the day, England had 22 points with no wickets lost. The home team wants to score more points on the seco
