The Sri Lanka National Cricket Team registered a thrilling win over the New Zealand National Cricket Team on September 23. Defending a total of 275 runs, Sri Lanka managed to wrap up the New Zealand second inning in 211 runs registering a 63-run victory on the final day. Interestingly, the final day of the match was September 23, six days from the start of the match (September 18).  In a rare instance, there was no play on the fourth day of the match, which was mentioned as ‘rest day’ in plan. Sri Lanka Beat New Zealand by 63 Runs in 1st Test 2024; Prabath Jayasuriya, Kamindu Mendis Star As Dhananjaya de Silva and Co Take 1–0 Lead.

Reason for Rest Day in SL vs NZ 1st Test 2024

Rest days have been a feature of Test Cricket in the 20th century, but it was phased out due to the jammed calendars of the nation involved. In case of the Sri Lanka vs New Zealand Test series, the first Test already had a rest day mentioned in the schedule. It was because Sri Lanka had its presidential elections on September 21 – which was the fourth day of the match. So, the players of the host side will exercise their right to cast votes from their respective constituencies. So even though the match spanned for six days as per calendar, it was a five-day Test as per the norms - removing September 21. ICC World Test Championship 2023–25 Points Table Updated: Sri Lanka Climbs to Third Spot After 63-Run Win Over New Zealand, India Stays on Top.

This was the second instance since change of the century. The last rest day in Tests came in 2008 when Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh. Bangladesh was scheduled to have its parliamentary elections on December 29 which was the also the fourth day of the said Test. Sri Lanka vs New Zealand 2nd Test will be played at Galle International Stadium and will start from September 26.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 23, 2024 01:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).