Stunning Dhananjaya puts Sri Lanka in control

Rex Clementine in Galle

There aren’t better things in cricket than Dhananjaya de Silva in full flow. A right-handed version of England’s David Gower, the 30-year-old Sri Lankan can make batting look ridiculously easy, but yesterday, in the scorching heat of Galle, it was not all elegant cover drives and wristy flicks, it was more Geoff Boycott like grind as he had to rescue his side from a crisis. He did that and then ensured that the team’s lead was sufficient enough to bat West Indies out of the contest. There was the occasional VVS Laxman like strokes, but mostly it was hard work.

When Sri Lanka started the day, on 46 for two, they were still trailing West Indies’ first innings score. When overnight batsman Charith Asalanka fell with the total on 73, the lead was just 24. Another collapse looked on the cards. But Dhananjaya played so well to ensure that Sri Lanka will move up the ICC team rankings and secure the series.

There were three vital partnerships. First a 78 run stand with Pathum Nissanka (66) for the fourth wicket that enabled Sri Lanka to fight back and then a 51 run stand for the sixth wicket with Ramesh Mendis (25) that steadied the ship. Soon after that, when a flurry of wicket saw them slump to 221 for eight, Sri Lanka were still not out of the woods with a lead of 172.

Then followed the unbroken ninth wicket stand between Dhananjaya and Lasith Embuldeniya. That basically killed the West Indies as they went wicketless in the final session as the pair added a record 107 runs. They broke the record for the highest ninth wicket partnership between these teams previously shared by Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas worth 66 runs.

West Indies were ruing the drop catch off Dhananjaya when he was on five. Joshua da Silva was the culprit and the tourists paid a massive price.

Dhananjaya reached his eighth Test hundred picking up two runs to mid-wicket. His 150 came in style as he elegantly drove Nkrumah Bonner for four.

This maybe not Dhananjaya’s finest knock in Tests with his century against Mitchell Starc and friends on his first series standing out. This is not even his second best as that should be going to Delhi 2017 on a crumbling wicket. But this should rank as his third best. It was not just batting out time and waiting for loose balls. It was smart cricket.

With spinners not able to make breakthroughs, West Indies opted for pace. There were a few short balls with fielders placed in the deep. Dhananjaya didn’t take the bait and was quite happy to knock off singles as he was mindful of the larger picture.

Now it’s a matter of finding out when Sri Lanka will declare. Ideally, they should do it overnight and give the bowlers enough time to wrap up the series 2-0. But the important point is after some sloppy cricket on day three; they played out of their skin to return to safety on day four. Mickey Arthur deserves a grand send off.