Sangakkara (177 n.o) rescues Surrey with 99th hundred of career | Daily News

Sangakkara (177 n.o) rescues Surrey with 99th hundred of career

Peerless Kumar Sangakkara celebrates his fifth straight hundred in theEnglish county championship this season for Surrey on the opening day of their match against v Essex at Chelmsford on Friday.
Peerless Kumar Sangakkara celebrates his fifth straight hundred in theEnglish county championship this season for Surrey on the opening day of their match against v Essex at Chelmsford on Friday.

Sri Lanka cricket legend Kumar Sangakkara continued to set fire to the English county grounds when he rescued Surrey with a century against Division One leaders Essex on the opening day of their County Championship match at Chelmsford on Friday.

Sangakkara came into this match with an already remarkable record in the County Championship: in six innings he had one fifty and four hundreds.

In his seventh match of the season, he scored an unbeaten 177 off 276 balls (23 fours) in a game where every other recognised Surrey batsman struggled.

It was a fifth consecutive Championship hundred for Sangakkara and another master class innings that saw Surrey finish the day at 334-7.

Alongside Sam Curran, the former Sri Lanka captain steadied the Surrey innings after the visitors found themselves 31-5 an hour before lunch.

Sangakkara and Curran played extremely well on a pitch that got better and better for batting.

The partnership was worth 191 when Curran was dismissed for 90.

Sangakkara’s innings was not without blemish. The Sri Lankan reached his 50 with a four, his eighth when former England captain Alastair Cook dropped him at first slip off Neil Wagner when he induced a leading edge.

When Sangakkara reached his century it was his fifth straight in the County Championship this season, his 99th of his career and his 61st in first-class cricket.

The Surrey batsman was rewarded for sticking in there when the going was tough earlier and he made hay when the sun shone at Chelmsford.

Scores: Surrey 334-7 at close (Kumar Sangakkara 177 n.o., Sam Curran 90, S Meaker 43 n.o., J Porter 2/70, M Quinn 3/66) v Essex. 


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