Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batter Niroshan Dickwella extended an unwanted Test cricket record on Day 3 of the first Test against India at the Galle International stadium on Monday, August 17. Dickwella missed out on a maiden Test century despite scoring a fighting 80.
Former India opener Chetan Chauhan is second on the list with 16 such half-centuries, while Mitchell Starc and Ken Mackay have 13 each. Shane Warne had 12. Dickwella’s highest Test score remains 96, which he made against the West Indies in Antigua in 2021. He was dismissed for 80 by Prasidh Krishna on Monday after being caught behind.
The left-hander then produced a crucial knock to help Sri Lanka recover and move closer to avoiding the follow-on. Dickwella, who returned to Sri Lanka’s Test side after more than three years, walked in with the hosts struggling at 90/5 after India posted 462 in their first innings. The 33-year-old scored 80 off 115 deliveries and shared a 146-run sixth-wicket partnership with Sonal Dinusha. Dinusha went on to register his maiden Test century, scoring 100 off 168 balls. Dickwella’s dismissal for 80 meant he once again failed to convert a Test half-century into a century.
This was his 23rd Test fifty without a century, extending his record for the most half-centuries in Test cricket without scoring a hundred, according to the statistics provided in the report.
Mitchell Starc, Tim Southee and Chetan Chauhan are among the other players on the list. Shane Warne finished his Test career with 3,154 runs without scoring a hundred, while Dickwella has moved closer to that mark with 2,837 Test runs without a century, according to the figures provided. Earlier reporting noted: Resuming from 99/5, Sri Lanka looked in danger of conceding a massive first-innings deficit. But Dickwella, playing a Test match after three years, and Dinusha exhibited exceptional composure on a turning pitch, including sweeping and reverse-sweeping very well, by adding 124 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket stand, thus denying India the opportunity to put pressure on them.
Earlier reporting noted: Indian skipper Shubman Gill rotated his attack, including bringing back pacers Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna for brief spells of reverse swing, but the pitch yielded little joy for the seamers, as Dickwella and Dinusha brought Sri Lanka back into the match.
