The Sri Lankan side was captained on their inaugural Test by Warnapura, who won the toss and elected to bat first. He opened the batting along with Wettimuny, and faced the first delivery from Willis. He also scored the first run for Sri Lanka, and according to a local newspaper, was the first to be hit on the chest. Warnapura then became the first batsman to lose his wicket, when he was caught by Gower off the bowling of Willis. Dias, Wettimuny and Duleep Mendis soon followed, leaving Sri Lanka in a difficult position at 34 runs for 4 wickets. However, a 99 run partnership between Madugalle and Ranatunga, with both batsmen scoring double centuries, took the Sri Lankan score to 183 before Ranatunga was dismissed. At the end of the day, Sri Lanka was at 138 for 8 wickets, with Madugalle remaining unbeaten on 64.