HALF-centuries from Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis put Sri Lanka on top in the first Test and Zimbabwe debutant Kevin Kasuza suffered a nasty blow on the head on day three at Harare Sports Club.

Kusal made 80 and Mathews was unbeaten on 92 when the tourists closed on 295-4 in reply to Zimbabwe’s 358 all out yesterday, trailing by only 63 runs.

Victor Nyauchi (2-38) claimed his first two international wickets but it was not such a memorable day for another man making his Zimbabwe bow.

Kasuza was struck on the helmet by a pull from Kusal and sustained soft tissue injury to the skull, but the batsman’s concussion test showed up as negative and a CT scan ruled out any internal damage.

Dimuth Karunaratne (37) was caught by Ainsley Ndlovu at midwicket off Nyauchi and that was the only wicket to fall in a morning session that ended with Sri Lanka 124-2, with Kasuza absent after being struck in the last over before lunch.

Kusal brought up an 11th Test half-century before dispatching Sikandar Raza for three consecutive fours as Mathews dug in at the other end.

Nyauchi had Kusal caught by Brendan Taylor at first slip to end a third-wicket stand of 92 and Sri Lanka were 227-4 when Dinesh Chandimal was caught and bowled by Sean Williams.

They were unable to dislodge Mathews, though, and the former captain was rewarded for his patience with a sixth Test half-century after slapping Ndlovu over midwicket for six before launching Williams over the rope.

Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva (42 not out) had put on 68 for the sixth wicket to put Sri Lanka in a promising position when stumps were drawn.

ZIMBABWE 1st innings
Prince Masvaure c Dimuth Karunaratne b Lasith Embuldeniya 55
Kevin Kasuza lbw Lahiru Kumara 63
Craig Ervine b Suranga Lakmal 85
Brendan Taylor lbw Suranga Lakmal 21
Sean Williams c Niroshan Dickwella b Lasith Embuldeniya 18
Sikandar Raza stp. Niroshan Dickwella b Lasith Embuldeniya 41
Regis Chakabva c Angelo Mathews b Lasith Embuldeniya 8
Donald Tiripano not out 44
Kyle Jarvis b Lasith Embuldeniya 1
Ainsley Ndlovu c Kusal Mendis b Lahiru Kumara 5
Victor Nyauchi c (sub.) b Suranga Lakmal 11
Extras: (lb-4, nb-2) 6
Total: (all out, 148.0 overs) 358
Fall of wickets: 1-96, 2-164, 3-208, 4-247, 5-247, 6-266, 7-307, 8-309, 9-328.
Bowling: Suranga Lakmal 27-10-53-3, Kasun Rajitha 29-9-55-0. Lasith Embuldeniya 42-12-114-5, Lahiru Kumara 29-8-82-2, Dhananjaya de Silva 21-8-50-0 (nb-2).

SRI LANKA 1st innings
Dimuth Karunaratne c Ainsley Ndlovu b Victor Nyauchi 37
Oshada Fernando b Donald Tiripano 21
Kusal Mendis c Brendan Taylor b Victor Nyauchi 80
Angelo Mathews not out 92
Dinesh Chandimal c & b Sean Williams 12
Dhananjaya de Silva not out 42
Extras: (b-2, lb-5, nb-4) 11
Total: (four wkts, 106.0 overs) 295
Fall of wickets: 1-32 Fernando, 2-92 Karunaratne, 3-184 Mendis, 4-227 Chandimal.
Bowling: Kyle Jarvis 25-10-52-0 (nb-1), Victor Nyauchi 22-6-38-2, Donald Tiripano 20-3-51-1 (nb-2), Ainsley Ndlovu 14-2-52-0, Sean Williams 20-2-67 -1.