Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) has announced the dates for the upcoming two-match Test series against New Zealand at home, starting next month, where the opening game of the series will be played in a unique style of six days.
Both the games will be part of the ongoing and third cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC), which will provide both teams an opportunity to gain valuable points to be part of the final of the tournament, which is going to take place at Lord’s in June 2025.
Sri Lanka is in the fourth position in the table, thanks to their two victories and two defeats with a 50 percent, while the Tim Southee-led side stays in the third position, enjoying the same percentage, shouldering on three wins and three losses in six games.
Sri Lanka brings back rest-day during the first Test due to this reason
The first of the two-match series will be played between September 18 and 23, while the second encounter will take place on September 26, as both games will be played in Galle. The opening red-ball game will be of six days due to the ‘Presidential Election of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.’
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This will mark the very first instance of a Test match being played in that country for six days after more than two decades. The last time was during the 2001 season when a game went across six days in Colombo against Zimbabwe, where they took the rest day due to Poya Day (full moon) in the Island nation.
In the last century, most of the games of the longest format used to feature a rest day. Many matches in England were played for six days, excluding another day without any play on Sundays.
The most recent red-ball game with a rest day was in Dhaka during the 2008 season, when the opening game between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka found a rest day on December 29 due to the parliamentary election.
However, the final of the first World Test Championship (WTC) between India and New Zealand also ran for six days which, however, didn’t feature a rest day. The first day of the game was washed out due to persistent rain, for which the International Cricket Council (ICC) brought the idea of keeping a reserved sixth day in the game.
The last time the Kiwis made the trip to Sri Lanka, they drew the series with a 1-1 margin. The first game in Galle saw the home side winning with a huge six-wicket margin, thanks to them chasing a huge score of 268 in the fourth innings, shouldering on the 122-run knock from the former captain, Dimuth Karunaratne.
The platform of the chase was laid by the excellent 161-run opening stand between two left-handed openers- Dimuth and Lahiru Thirimanne. The visitors struggled in their spin department bowling.
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The Blackcaps made a strong comeback in the second game in Colombo. A huge knock of 154 runs from opener Tom Latham and the unbeaten 105-run knock from BJ Watling piled the mountain of 431/6 in their first innings. Southee, who picked up four wickets in the first innings, added two more in the second, as the Blackcaps registered a memorable innings and 65-run win.
They will straight-away fly to Sri Lanka after completing their one-off Test against Afghanistan, while the home side will reach home at the end of their ongoing three-match series in England.