KANDY: The left-arm spinner snared 6-92 on day three, including Bangladesh top-scorer Tamim Iqbal (92), as the Tigers were rolled for 251 in reply to their hosts’ 493-7 declared before Sri Lanka closed on 17-2 in their second innings with a lead of 259 having opted against enforcing the follow-on.
Jayawickrama follows Kosala Kuruppuarachchi (vs Pakistan in 1986), Upul Chandana (vs Pakistan in 1999), Akila Dananjaya (vs Bangladesh in 2018) and Lasith Embuldeniya (vs South Africa in 2019) in claiming a debut five-for, with his figures the best of that group having beaten Chandana’s 6-179.
The 22-year-old made Saif Hassan (25) his maiden Test scalp when he had the right-hander caught at gully by Dhananjaya de Silva to break an opening stand of 98 with Tamim.
Jayawickrama then went on to have Tamim caught at slip by Lahiru Thirimanne, while his lbw dismissal of Mushfiqur Rahim (40) triggered Bangladesh losing their final seven wickets for 37 runs.
The debutant also had Liton Das (8) caught in the cordon by Thirimanne and trapped Mehidy Hasan Miraz (16) and Taskin Ahmed (0) lbw.
Fellow spinner Ramesh Mendis inflicted back-to-back ducks on first-Test centurion Nazmul Hossain Shanto and also removed Tigers captain Mominul Haque (49), while seamer Suranga Lakmal dismissed tailenders Taijul Islam (9) and Shoriful Islam (0).
Mominul – dropped on one and 11 off Jayawickrama – had shared half-century stands with Tamim and Mushfiqur to steer Bangladesh to 214-3 but the subsequent collapse left them 242 runs behind on first innings.
Thirimanne (2) and Oshada Fernando (1) – who had hit 140 and 81 respectively in Sri Lanka’s first innings – fell cheaply before stumps but the home side are still well on top.
