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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara began the Test series with hundreds•Associated Press

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• Tillakaratne Dilshan’s century is his 13th in Tests and his second against Pakistan. It is his first century at home since August 2009. Between that game and the start of this Test, he averaged 28.00 from 21 innings.

• Kumar Sangakkara’s century is his 29th in Tests. It is his eighth against Pakistan and brings him level on top with Aravinda de Silva on the list of batsmen with most centuries against Pakistan.

• The century stand between Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene is their 15th in Tests. They are behind Sachin Tendulkar-Rahul Dravid, Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes and Matthew Hayden-Ricky Ponting among batting pairs with the most century stands.

• Sangakkara’s average of 64.43 is the highest among batsmen with 5000-plus runs in home Tests. Jayawardene is second, with an average of 60.88.

• Sangakkara and Jayawardene become the only batting pair to aggregate over 1000 partnership runs against Pakistan. Three other partnership pairs have more century partnerships than Sangakkara-Jayawardene (three 100 stands) against Pakistan.

• This is only the seventh occasion that Sri Lanka have managed century stands for the second and third wickets in an innings. The last time they did so was against India at the SSC in 2010.

• Jayawardene scored his tenth half-century (to go with seven centuries) in 20 Tests in Galle. In his last seven innings at the venue, he has scored two centuries and three half-centuries.

Nine months ago, the ICC had said a “better balance between bat and ball (needs to be) achieved” after a Galle dustbowl made life difficult for batsmen. Today, on an unexpectedly sunny day in Galle, Sri Lanka reached stumps at a commanding 300 for 2.Ahead of the series, Mahela Jayawardene had talked of the need for Sri Lanka’s experienced players to build a platform for the others. He couldn’t have expected more: Tillakaratne Dilshan made his first Test hundred in more than a year, Kumar Sangakkara drew level with Don Bradman on 29 centuries and Jayawardene himself made an unbeaten 55.It rounded off a wretched day for Pakistan cricket. Before the start of play came the news of disgraced former captain Salman Butt returning home from jail and denying involvement in spot-fixing, and towards stumps the headlines were about legspinner Danish Kaneria being found guilty of corruption by the ECB.Though the scoreline might suggest it, the Galle track didn’t overnight become a clone of the famously flat SSC pitch. It didn’t provide much for the quick bowlers – either with the new ball or old – but there was plenty to interest Pakistan’s world-class spinners. As early as the first session, Abdul Rehman got the odd ball to bounce extra, all the spinners got the ball to turn sharply.Especially in the half hour before lunch, Saeed Ajmal and Rehman piled on the pressure. Dilshan survived several lbw appeals, Sangakkara edged past slip, there was a leading edge from Dilshan, the spinners put together three successive maidens, and despite a healthy score of 94 for 1 Sri Lanka were relieved when the lunch interval arrived.Before that spell, Dilshan had dished out his usual crash-bang-wallop style of batting. Mohammad Hafeez, the stand-in Pakistan captain, had done a solid job on being handed the ball early in recent Tests, but he was launched over long-on for six in his second over. By the time Junaid returned for his second spell around the morning drinks break, Dilshan was serving up regular boundaries: a couple of dismissive pulls for four and nutmegging the non-striker with a punched drive for another four.Kumar Sangakkara played an innings expected from him. Minimal risks were taken, the sweep shot was employed tactically as the spinners plugged away, and it wasn’t till he was past his half-century that the more cavalier lofted drives were brought out. He was the most comfortable of the Sri Lankan batsmen, not flustered by anything Pakistan flung at him.Pakistan should count among Sangakkara’s favourite opposition: he now has 1941 Test runs against them at an average of 84.39. If there were any nerves in the 90s, he was hardly tested as he was first gifted a wide delivery that was easily put away through cover before being handed a dreadful delivery well down the leg side which he helped to the fine leg boundary to reach 99. Then, he panicked momentarily, dropping the ball towards mid-off and setting off for a dicey single which needed a dive to beat the throw.Jayawardene’s innings, on the other hand, wasn’t what you’d expect from him. He got off the mark on his 16th delivery with a scoop for four, and followed it up with a reverse-sweep for another boundary. Though he went on to another half-century at a ground where he routinely scores hundreds, he looked shaky at times, top-edging an attempted paddle and surviving an lbw call off Umar Gul on 21, though he looked plumb.Gul may have gone wicketless on the day, but he bowled with heart on an unhelpful surface. The umpire missed a Tharanga Paranavitana inside-edge early in the morning to deny Gul a wicket. He beat the bat plenty of times and had several lbw appeals, but couldn’t get the breakthroughs.The only Sri Lankan to have a bad day was Paranavitana, whose hold on the opening slot is tenuous given that Lahiru Thirimanne is on the bench. He didn’t make too much of a case for getting an extended run as two balls after being put down at silly point, he uncharacteristically charged out against Ajmal to be comprehensively beaten, and stumped.After that, Sangakkara was involved in two big partnerships as Sri Lanka steadily moved into a position of dominance.

Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has been rested for the remaining three ODIs against Pakistan following a knee operation after the home series against England in March. The national selectors have picked the uncapped left-arm spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon as his replacement.Herath played the first two ODIs in Pallekele, but keeping in mind his expected heavy workload in the Tests as the lead spinner, the team management has decided to let him recuperate till the Test series which begins in Galle on June 22.”We had decided that he would play only two to three games in this series because it’s always tough to return after an operation,” Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, said on the eve of the third ODI in Colombo. “He felt it sore in the first two games. If you noticed while fielding he was struggling a bit.”Weerakoon, 34, has been on the fringes of national selection for a few years. He was the third-highest wicket-taker in the first-class 2011-12 Tier A competition with 42 wickets for Colts Cricket Club. In 2005, the consistency Weerakoon showed for the A team pushed the selectors to include him in the senior squad for three Tests against India in place of Herath, but he didn’t break into the playing XI.”I’m really happy and thrilled about this call,” Weerakoon said. “I got this call after seven years, and seven years means a long time. I made lots of sacrifices during that period.”I think I have done enough to convince them that I deserve a place in the Sri Lanka team. I was told about this decision just a couple of days ago by the team manager (Charith Senanayake).”Weerakoon said that it was his performances in the Premier tournament that earned him a call-up. “I think that’s why I’m here today. I was really determined to make my way into the national side. I never gave up. All I wanted was to represent Sri Lanka, at least in one game. I think that’s why I’m here today.”Weerakoon said that in those seven years he got valuable advice from spin bowling coach Piyal Wijetunge, a former Sri Lanka left-arm spinner. If picked, Weerakoon will become the second oldest Sri Lanka to make an ODI debut, after Michael Tissera, who played his first ODI in 1975 at the age of 36.Jayawardene said Weerakoon’s experience in the domestic circuit – he has 693 first-class wickets – should serve him well. “Personally I feel he is a deserving candidate and hopefully he will get his opportunity tomorrow,” Jayawardene said. “He has been in the shadows of Murali, Malinga Bandara, Herath and Ajantha Mendis for quite some time. He is a fighter. He has a lot of experience in club cricket and the A team.”With inputs from Kanishkaa Balachandran

The IPL governing council has suspended five players named by a sting operation alleging corruption until an inquiry into the accusations is conducted. TP Sudhindra (Deccan Chargers), Mohnish Mishra (Pune Warriors), Shalabh Srivastava (Kings XI Punjab), Amit Yadav (Kings XI Punjab) and Abhinav Bali were suspended, according to IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla.”The above players would not be entitled to participate in any cricket match played under the aegis of the BCCI while under suspension,” N Srinivasan, the BCCI president, said in a statement.Shukla said Ravi Sawani, the former head of the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU), will conduct the inquiry. “The conversation [in the sting] is about other matches also, which are not IPL, or in previous IPLs,” Shukla said after the meeting on Tuesday. “After due consideration, the BCCI president has decided to have an inquiry for which a commissioner has been appointed, Mr Ravi Sawani. He will be conducting the preliminary inquiry. His report will be sent to the disciplinary committee.”Indian politicians brought up the matter during a parliamentary session. Former India cricketer Kirti Azad, who is now a member of the country’s main opposition party, the BJP, reportedly said that corruption in sports was on the rise with politicians heading sports associations. “I have no objections with politicians heading sports bodies,” Azad was quoted as saying. “But ever since politicians have taken over, corruption has seeped in and grown from top to bottom.”However, Srinivasan said corruption was not as widespread in Indian cricket as it was being made out. “I don’t think this operation can reflect what is going across the board. I can’t deny what has happened because the evidence is there as what was shown yesterday. But at the same time it is a case of few individuals so I don’t want to generalise on this,” he told an Indian TV channel.”I believe it will be a case of few individual players maybe out of greed or whatever taking wrong steps. I am not prepared to take a brush and paint the whole thing or say that this is rampant or anything like that.”He also defended the franchise owners from any allegation of corruption. “All the franchisees are people of stature behind it. It will be wrong to presume they are doing something wrong and then make enquiries. If something comes to light it is different.”Meanwhile Srivastava, one of the players accused by the sting, said he was not guilty. “I fail to understand whatever is being said about spot-fixing. Also if they [a TV channel] are showing all the video clips, why aren’t they showing the clip where I allegedly am demanding Rs. 10 lakh?” he told NDTV. “The voice in that telephonic conversation is not mine. It is very easy to frame anyone with a doctored audio clip.”India TV, a television channel, showed footage of a player bowling a big no-ball in a limited-overs match and played a recording of a phone conversation that it said was of a current IPL player negotiating a fee for bowling a no-ball. It also had at least three players on camera allegedly seeking more lucrative deals – including extra money that would have violated their IPL contracts – with other league franchises through an undercover reporter posing as a sports agent.Srivastava has not played a match for Kings XI this IPL season, though he was a fairly regular starter in 2011 and has played 14 matches in all. Mohnish Mishra played the solitary match for Warriors in 2012, when he replaced Sourav Ganguly against Royal Challengers Bangalore and was dismissed for 4. Sudhindra played three games for Chargers, conceding 136 runs and taking only one wicket, while Yadav has not got a game for Kings XI. Bali, an allrounder from Delhi, is not part of the IPL but has played first-class and limited-overs cricket for Himachal Pradesh.06:32 GMT, May 16: This story has been updated to include the reaction of Srinivasan and Indian politicians

ScorecardYoung Hampshire seamer Chris Wood took four wickets in bowler-friendly conditions pm day one against Northamptonshire. The hosts lost their last five wickets for just 21 runs as they collapsed to 218 all out, opener Stephen Peters top-scoring with 44.Wood returned figures of 4 for 52 and former Zimbabwe international Sean Ervine 3 for 32 before Hampshire stuttered to close on 42 for 3, 176 runs behind.The visitors won the toss and chose to field and they gave Peters a reprieve in the sixth over when he was dropped on 9 by Ervine at third slip off the bowling of David Balcombe. But Balcombe was to get his reward when Rob Newton edged him to Liam Dawson at second slip to break an opening partnership of 68.Peters perished to the last ball before lunch when he was just about snared after an initial fumble by Hampshire’s stand-in captain, Simon Katich, at first slip off David Griffiths. David Sales went for 10 in the sixth over of the afternoon and Alex Wakely made 27 before he was the next batsman back in the pavilion when his off stump was taken out by Wood.Northamptonshire captain Andrew Hall departed for 8 to give Ervine his first wicket and Scotland international Kyle Coetzer crawled to 41 off 137 balls before he played Wood on to his stumps after tea. Their innings was brought to an end when Jack Brooks edged Ervine to Dawson at second slip.Hall brought himself on in the 13th over of Hampshire’s reply and his second ball clattered into the off stump of Sean Terry (12) before he also bowled nightwatchman Hamza Riazuddin three deliveries later. Michael Carberry then fell in the penultimate over of the day for 4 as the hosts fought back.

India’s home season will feature four new international venues in Pune, Ranchi, Rajkot and Dharamsala. While the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala, which has hosted several IPL matches, has already been approved by the ICC as an international venue, the three other stadiums are awaiting approval. They are the Subrata Roy Stadium in Pune, the Khandheri Cricket Ground in Rajkot and the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium in Ranchi.India begin their home season with a two-Test series against New Zealand in August, followed by two Twenty20 internationals. The BCCI has confirmed that Hyderabad will host the first Test from August 23 and Bangalore, the second from August 31. The Twenty20 matches will be played in Chennai and Visakhapatnam. Each of the four venues chosen for that series are located in southern India, as a result of the monsoon season being at its peak in the rest of the country.India then play a full series, including four Tests, against England from November to January. The Tests will be at Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Nagpur; Pune will stage one of the two scheduled Twenty20 internationals, and Rajkot, Ranchi and Dharamsala have been allotted one ODI each for the five-match series.The home season concludes with a four-Test series against Australia between February and March 2013.

Andy Flower, England team director, has kept up the pressure on Samit Patel to reach acceptable fitness levels if he is to achieve his ambition of a Test debut for England against Sri Lanka in Galle later this month.Flower regards Patel as a genuine contender to bat at No. 6 and strengthen England’s slow-bowling ranks as they seek to improve on their disastrous 3-0 whitewash against Pakistan in the UAE. But as the bulk of England’s squad prepared to leave Heathrow, he issued a subtle reminder of the fitness standards required to survive the sapping conditions of Sri Lanka at one of the most humid times of the year.”I think he’s still got significant work to do on the fitness front but he’s inching in the right direction,” Flower said. “The heat and humidity will be a significant factor for the bowling side certainly and then on concentration levels because fatigue affects everyone. Fitness levels and how we react will be very important.”The makeup of England’s bowling attack will influence whether Patel will make his Test debut in Sri Lanka. Flower and England captain Andrew Strauss will have to decide whether to continue with two specialist spinners, a policy that served them well against Pakistan in the UAE, revert back to three quick bowlers, or play five bowlers – something England have been reluctant to do but an option Flower has not ruled out.”Everyone in this squad is a serious challenger for a Test place,” Flower said as England prepared to fly out to Sri Lanka ahead of the first of two three-day warm-up matches on March 15. “Patel provides the option of flexibility for us. If we played three quicks and Graeme Swann, then he could bat at six and give you that angle to bowl into the rough if we needed to. That is a possibility.”If the conditions determine that two spinners should play, they can take up a lot of the slack on the workload front. It doesn’t necessary mean you have to play five bowlers. We saw two and two work effectively in the UAE and I still think with two specialist spinners taking up a lot of the overs you can still take 20 wickets with four bowlers.”England, who could begin the Sri Lanka series below South Africa in the Test rankings, also have James Tredwell, the 30-year-old Kent offspinner, in their squad. A surprise selection, he is only likely to feature through injury to Swann. “James is an experienced cricketer who we know we can rely on,” Flower said. “Both types of spin are important and we’ve covered both.”He sounded unconcerned that Tredwell has not played since the end of last season. “When you’ve played as long as Tredwell has, it won’t take long to get him up to speed.”Tredwell is one of seven England players that have flown out early to Sri Lanka to acclimatise. Ian Bell, reserve wicketkeeper Steven Davies, Monty Panesar, Patel, Matt Prior and Andrew Strauss have also travelled early for two skill sessions a day and fitness training.Strauss is looking to find form after a lean period in Test cricket: his last century came in Brisbane in November 2010. But Flower sees the improvements Strauss made towards the end of the Pakistan series as signs of returning form. “To survive and thrive you have to be adaptable and he showed some of that adaptability in that last Test,” Flower said. “He’s working at those skills and methods right now and he’s got two three-day games to get some time in the middle. With his experience I expect him to do well.”Flower said that Strauss was not helped by an extended break between the end of the season and start of the Pakistan series but that a similar scenario was unlikely happen again and Strauss was keen to lead from the front once more. “He’s a very experienced cricketer and you know that he’s very level-headed in his response to both the highs and lows associated with playing for England. I know he will be working hard and smart to get his game in order.”Strauss will return to the England top order alongside Alastair Cook, who, along with Kevin Pietersen, found form in the 4-0 ODI series win against Pakistan. Their performances and the experience gained against Pakistan’s barrage of spinners is cause for optimism for Flower. “The good thing about playing people like Seed Ajmal is that as you’re exposed to them you should get better, that’s how we grow, by putting ourselves in tougher situations that we’d normally come across.”Playing in subcontinental conditions against good spinners will without doubt add to our batsman’s growth. So I should expect our batsman to be better able to deal with Sri Lanka’s spinners.”

Alan Butcher, the Zimbabwe coach, has said his players were embarrassed by their loss inside three days to New Zealand in Napier. Zimbabwe were bowled out twice on the third day of the Test, and lost by an innings and 301 runs, slumping to their lowest Test total, 51, in the process.”They [the players] were embarrassed in the dressing-room and they should have been,” Butcher told . “They all felt we let ourselves down badly and that we hadn’t given a good account of ourselves.”Zimbabwe have performed creditably in Tests since returning from a six-year self-imposed exile last August. They beat Bangladesh in their comeback Test and then pushed New Zealand till deep into the fifth day in Bulawayo in November. The Napier Test was their first on foreign soil for six years and though Butcher knew it would be hard, he expected his team to at least last all five days.”Regardless of how the result had gone, it wasn’t going to be easy for us to play a Test away from home, having been out of Test cricket for some time,” he said, “but we hoped we would at least provide five days of competitive cricket. We got nowhere near that.”The Zimbabweans had fared well in the warm-up match, against a New Zealand XI in Gisborne; their batsmen built a total of 329 to give them a first-innings lead. The sudden slide in form between that game and the Test match was something Butcher said he could not understand.”It was disappointing. It bore no relation to how we’ve been practising and how we’ve played in recent times. Not only the batting on Saturday, but I thought we didn’t bowl particularly well on the first day. All around I think we were below par and New Zealand played well and took full advantage.”With the bat we played at a lot of wide balls and we played across straight balls. We didn’t do things that we’ve been doing pretty well. It’s difficult to know why we should collapse collectively, twice, with the exception of Regis [Chakabva] who played very well and showed you could make runs. They did bowl some bad balls that we could score from.”Zimbabwe will now travel to Dunedin for the first of three ODIs, which will be followed by two Twenty20 internationals. When New Zealand toured Zimbabwe in October last year, Zimbabwe managed to win the last of the three ODIs by chasing 329. Butcher said they needed to replicate that kind of performance.”That will be in their [New Zealand’s] minds; to know we can compete in a much better fashion than we did in the Test match. We’ve got to. If we keep losing like that, then we’ll find ourselves back where we were five or six years ago.”

Lancashire’s head coach Peter Moores has signed a two-year extension to his contract following the county’s first outright championship title for 77 years. His contract will now run until 2014.Moores’ rehabilitation has been swift since he was sacked as England coach three years ago, following a rift with the then-captain, Kevin Pietersen, who also lost his job as a result.He guided an unfashionable Lancashire side to the title when many judges had regarded them as relegation probables, repeating the success he had enjoyed at county level with Sussex before taking up the England role.Moores said: “I am really pleased to commit to Lancashire. I have enjoyed my time immensely.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
David Hussey got Melbourne Stars’ chase back on track after the loss of three early wickets•Getty Images

Melbourne Stars have earned a spot in the semi-finals, knocking Brisbane Heat out of fourth place with a comfortable six-wicket win over Adelaide Strikers at the MCG.The Stars’ pace attack did most of the damage on a tacky MCG deck with Man of the Match Clint McKay leading the way, taking 3 for 17 off his four overs, including the key wickets of opening pair Daniel Harris and Michael Klinger.The Strikers failed to live up to their moniker, struggling to strike the ball cleanly throughout the innings, managing just four boundaries and one six. Callum Ferguson’s 41 off just 29 balls was the only resistance for the visitors as they were bundled out for 125, the last six wickets falling for just 25 runs.The hosts got off to a shaky start in reply, losing Rob Quiney to a brilliant bit of fielding from Nathan Lyon off his own bowling, taking the ball cleanly and flicking the ball back at the stumps to catch Quiney short of his ground.And when New Zealand import James Franklin and former Victoria spinner Bryce McGain struck in consecutive overs, the Strikers were in with a chance – the Stars stumbling to 3 for 38 off seven overs.Out of form Stars captain Cameron White – who had made just 13 runs in his previous six innings – strode to the crease with the game on the line and finally found the middle of the bat, working his way to 28 before hauling out on the boundary with just 24 runs to get.Despite some tight bowling from Striker’s spin pair Nathan Lyon (20 runs off 3.5 overs) and Aaron O’Brien (12 runs off his four overs), David Hussey (41 off 36 balls) guided the hosts to victory with seven balls to spare.The Stars’ win means they will travel to Perth to play the Scorchers on Saturday, while the Hurricanes will host the Sixers on Sunday.

Rahul Dravid has been appointed the new captain of Rajasthan Royals. Dravid succeeds Shane Warne, who captained Royals in the first four IPLs and led them to the championship in the league’s inaugural season. Dravid was bought by Royals in the 2011 IPL auction for $500,000, after playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore for the first three years. One of the reasons Dravid was signed by Royals was his proven leadership abilities.”I am honoured to lead the Rajasthan Royals and look forward to the valuable inputs from my team-mates who are already leading their national sides and clubs,” Dravid said. “My aim will be to get the best out of a very talented squad and invoke the same team spirit that won the franchise the first IPL, and has been a hallmark of the Rajasthan Royals ever since.”Warne announced his retirement from the IPL following the 2011 tournament and Royals had a number of players with leadership experience from which to choose his successor. Their squad includes current New Zealand captain, Ross Taylor, and former international Twenty20 captains Johan Both and Paul Collingwood. Shane Watson, the Australia allrounder was another candidate but in the end Dravid’s qualifications were too strong too ignore.”No one [in the squad] has Rahul Dravid’s stature,” Raghu Iyer, Rajasthan’s spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo. “He is probably one of the world’s best ever. Very difficult not to appoint him as captain.”Warne complimented Dravid’s leadership skills. “He is not only one of the world’s best batsmen, but a leader par excellence. The Royals squad is a bunch of extremely energetic and talented players who know their roles perfectly well and I am sure they will thrive under Dravid’s inspiring leadership.”In his debut season with Royals earlier this year, Dravid scored 343 runs in 12 matches at an average of 31.18 and a strike-rate of 109.23. The team finished sixth in the table, and were in the hunt for a play-off spot for most of the season before fading at the end.