Mendis Century puts Sri Lanka on top in the first test against Australia

28th July (CRICKETNMORE) - Maiden test century by Kusal Mendia helped Sri Lanka to make a comeback in the first test against Australia at 
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Thursday. Sri Lanka are leading by 196 runs with four wickets in hand at Stumps on day 3. Rain continued to interupt the match on day three as well.

The 21-year-old, Kusal Mendi was unbeaten on 169 when rain forced the players off the ground 10 overs after tea with Sri Lanka on 282-6.

Earlier, Resuming on six for one, Sri Lanka lost Dimuth Karunaratne to Mitchell Starc in the third delivery of the day. Steve O'Keefe dismissed Kaushal Silva and his spin partner Nathan Lyon sent back home captain Angelo Mathews (nine) to reduce Sri Lanka to 86-4.

Mendis then had two important partnerships 117 runs with Dinesh Chandimal (42) and 71 with Dhananjaya de Silva (36) to haul his team back into the contest. Check the  SCORECARD

Mendis hit 20 boundaries, including a couple of glorious cover drives, in his 243-ball masterclass and had contributed nearly 60 per cent of the team score in the second innings.

Brief Score:

Sri Lanka (1st Innings) - 117/10, Australia (1st Innings - 203/10, Sri Lanka (2nd Innings) - 282/6

---