WI vs SL: 1st Test – Nissanka’s achievement, Holder’s feat and other records

West Indies have managed a draw against Sri Lanka in the first Test of the two-match series. Sri Lanka had set a target of 375 runs for the hosts in the fourth innings. The match ended up in a draw after the West Indies reached 236/4 in 100 overs on the fifth day.

Earlier in the match, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 169 runs in the first innings with Lahiru Thirimanne top-scoring for them. West Indies had scored 271 runs in their first innings taking a lead of 102 runs. In the second innings, the visitors made a strong comeback putting up a total of 476 runs with the help of a magnificent century from the debutant Pathum Nissanka.

Let’s look at important stats and numbers after the end of the first Test between Sri Lanka and West Indies:

4 – Pathum Nissanka became only the fourth player from Sri Lanka to smash a century on Test debut. Before him, Brendon Kuruppu, Romesh Kaluwitharana and Thilan Samaraweera had achieved this milestone.

67.54 – Before this match, Pathum Nissanka had a first-class average of 67.54. This is the highest average among active cricketers with a minimum of 50 innings.

17 – Niroshan Dickwella missed out on a Test century yet again in the second innings of this game. He now has most fifties (17) in Test cricket without a hundred in his career. He surpassed Chetan Chauhan in this regard who scored 16 fifties without a single ton.

2008 – Nkrumah Bonner hit a brilliant century in the fourth innings of this Test match. He is the first batsman from West Indies since 2010 to hit a ton in the fourth innings while batting at number 3. Before him, Ramnaresh Sarwan smashed a hundred against England in 2009.

3 – Nkrumah Bonner has played a knock of 80+ runs in each of his first 3 matches of his Test career. This includes an 86-run knock against Bangladesh on Test debut, 90 runs in the second Test and 113 runs in this match. He is only the third player after Mohammad Azharuddin and Aiden Markram to achieve this landmark in Test cricket.

8 – After 8 consecutive matches ending in a result, this was the first Test match played in West Indies since July 2018 which ended in a draw.

3 – Jason Holder picked up his third five-wicket haul of the World Test Championship in the first innings of the game. He is at the joint second spot in this tally, and number 1 among bowlers from West Indies.

476 – The second innings total of 476 by Sri Lanka in the fourth innings of the match is their joint-highest innings total in West Indies. They had earlier scored 476/8 in the Province Test, 2008.

2005 – Dhananjaya de Silva completed his 2000 Test runs in this match. He has scored 2005 runs so far at an average of 35.18.