Rangana Herath grabbed six wickets in the second innings to become Test cricket's most successful left-arm spinner as Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by 259 runs in their first Test at Galle on Saturday.

Dean Elgar failed to join a select group of South Africa batsman while New Zealand took three late wickets to leave the first Test at University Oval delicately poised at the end of the fourth day on Saturday.

Sri Lanka’s stand-in skipper Rangana Herath became the most successful left-arm spinner in Test history after taking the wicket of Liton Das on the fifth afternoon of the first Test against Bangladesh at the Galle International Stadium today.

Sri Lanka showed their supremacy in the longest format of cricket when they defeated Bangladesh by a massive margin of 259 runs in the first Test to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series at Galle today.

Like their previous three away Tests, the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle awaits a final day denouement today with Bangladesh having 10 wickets to try and salvage a draw and needing 390 runs to pull off an unlikely victory.

Trevor Hohns was named as the chairman of Australia's cricket selectors on Friday after steadying the ship as caretaker chief following a string of defeats last year.

He was one of the pioneers that revolutionised ODI cricket in the 1990s and early 2000s, at one point holding the records for the fastest fifty and fastest century. Today, he is the chairman of selectors of Sri Lanka Cricket.

Play was called off for day-4 due to bad light during the last session of the first Test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at Galle today.

England's Alex Hales and Joe Root struck centuries as the tourists cruised to a series sweep with a massive 186-run victory over West Indies in the third and final one-day international at the Kensington Oval on Thursday.

Being the Sri Lanka coach at the end of the day yesterday was a good place to be. With two days left and with a 182-run first innings lead they are in prime position, weather permitting, to go one-up in the two-match series by winning the first Test against Bangladesh in Galle.

If you think wicketkeeping is an issue in Bangladesh with Mushfiqur Rahim giving up the gloves to Liton Das for this tour, have a gander at Sri Lanka. When Liton joined Mushfiqur at the crease yesterday, there were a total of seven keepers on the field

Bangladesh trailed Sri Lanka by 182 runs with one wicket remaining in their first innings when the players left the field for tea on day-3 of the first Test at the Galle International Stadium today.

In the sixth over of the first day Subashis Roy had prematurely rejoiced at picking up Kusal Mendis's wicket first ball, only for the eventual centurion to be recalled after replays showed that Subashis had overstepped the line.

Bangladesh's end-of-day and end-of-session blues continued yesterday. Openers Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal had held off Sri Lanka's opening burst, although both survived chances, and were looking comfortable on Bangladesh's fourth century-plus opening stand.

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has overtaken India's Ravichandran Ashwin as the top-ranked player in the International Cricket Council's (ICC's) Test All-Rounder Rankings.

It must be counted as a stroke of good fortune that a tourist's first stop in Sri Lanka is the seaside city of Galle.

Bangladesh trail Sri Lanka by 361 runs with 8 wickets remaining in their first innings of the first Test at the Galle International Stadium today.

Before the Test started, Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim said that they needed to play well on all five days instead of just three or four days as they had done on the recent tours of New Zealand and India.

Cricket is a game of fine margins. If the coin had been angled differently when it hit the Galle International Stadium pitch yesterday, maybe it would have been Bangladesh enjoying a batting-friendly pitch and the Sri Lankans toiling away in the heat.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin grabbed six wickets as India stopped Australia in their tracks to win a fiery second Test and level the series 1-1 on Tuesday.