Skipper De Silva credits big partnerships for win over England and NZ

It was Sri Lanka’s second consecutive Test win, following a previous eight-wicket victory against England at the Oval earlier this month

Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva said that their 63-run win against New Zealand in the first Test in Galle on Monday shows that they have the ability to beat any opponent in the red-ball format.

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It was Sri Lanka’s second consecutive Test win, following a previous eight-wicket victory against England at the Oval earlier this month. However, they lost the series 1-2 against England before snatching a consolation win in the final Test of the tour.

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De Silva credited the win at The Oval for boosting their morale and reigniting their belief in winning matches. “The win in England boosted our morale, we have the ability to win Tests and the boys are delivering now,” he said at the post-match presentation.

SL bowled well in the final innings to dismiss the Kiwis for 211 in a chase of 275 as Prabath Jayasuriya scalped a fifer while Ramesh Mendis grabbed three. De Silva  also lauded the 152-run second-wicket partnership between Dimuth Karunaratne (83) and Dinesh Chandimal(61) to set the tone for 309 in the second innings. “Big partnerships always help win Tests in Galle [on the partnership between Karunaratne and Chandimal in the second innings], but we can improve in both our batting and bowling. We were talking about our lower order batting, stats reveal we have the lowest average and that’s something we can work on. I wasn’t expecting to bowl, but Ramesh [Mendis] wasn’t at his best and I think I have the ability to take wickets,” added the Lankan skipper.

The second and final Test will be played at the same venue from September 26.

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