Cricket: Donald checks Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka 241-5; v South Africa

ALLAN DONALD took three wickets to keep South Africa in contention on the first day of their first Test match against Sri Lanka in Colombo yesterday.

The Warwickshire fast bowler combined with wicket-keeper David Richardson to take a wicket in each session as Sri Lanka finished on 241 for 5, thanks to an unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 73 between Hashan Tillakaratne and Ruwan Kalpage.

Donald finished the day with figures of 3 for 44 off 17 overs while Brett Schultz, used in short spells by his captain, Kepler Wessels, captured the other two for 59. The medium pacer, Hansie Cronje, played a fine supporting role, yielding only 18 runs from his 19 overs.

(First day of five: Sri Lanka won toss)

SRI LANKA - First innings

R S Mahanama b Schultz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

U C Hathurusinghe c Richardson b Donald. . . . . .1

A P Gurusinha c Richardson b Donald. . . . . . . . .26

P A de Silva c Wessels b Shultz. . . . . . . . . . . . .27

*A Ranatunga c Richardson b Donald. . . . . . . . . .44

H P Tillakaratne not out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

R S Kalpage not out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Extras (1b9 nb4 w1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Total (for 5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241

Fall: 1-5 2-77 3-100 4-157 6-168.

To bat: P Dissanayake, P K Wijetunge, G P Wickramasinghe, M Muralitharan.

Bowling: Donald 17-3-44-3; Schultz 21-6-59-2; Eksteen 14-4-44-0; Cronje 19-11-18-0; Symcox 19-3-67-0.

SOUTH AFRICA: * K C Wessels, A C Hudson, W J Cronje, D J Cullinan, S J Cook, J N Rhodes, D J Richardson, P L Symcox, C E Eksteen, A A Donald, B N Schultz.

Umpires: B Aldridge (NZ) and K T Francis (S Lanka).