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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Mahela Jayawardene and Hashan Tillakaratne staged a Sri Lankan fightback to take the side to within 49 runs of averting the follow-on on the third day of the first cricket Test against New Zealand at the Saravanamuttu Stadium yesterday.

Starting the day at 5-1, Sri Lanka were somewhat in a shaky position at 134-4 half an hour into the third afternoon chasing New Zealand's mammoth first innings total of 515-7 declared, and in danger of being forced to follow-on.

But Jayawardene back in the side after a disastrous World Cup tournament, and skipper Tillakaratne formed an alliance for the fifth wicket to take Sri Lanka to 267 for four wickets by the close which was brought forward by a thunder storm which cut short play by nearly ten overs.

Jayawardene was unbeaten on 58 scored in 204 minutes off 144 balls with eight fours and Tillakaratne on 71 in a stay of 188 minutes off 135 balls and 13 fours. Neither offered a chance although Tillakaratne survived a confident lbw shout against Daryl Tuffey with the second new ball. The pair has so far been associated in an unfinished fifth wicket stand of 133 which is a new record for Sri Lanka against New Zealand. It surpassed the previous best of 130 by Ranjan Madugalle and Somachandra de Silva at Wellington ten years ago.

More than Tillakaratne, it was Jayawardene who was under pressure to deliver after being responsible for dropping half the number of catches missed by the Sri Lankans on the field.

Having got off the mark with a glide to leg for a couple, Jayawardene was soon batting confidently and completed his 17th Test half-century off 105 balls in 142 minutes with eight fours, before slowing down and allowing his more senior partner to overtake him.

"I felt that if a ball is there to be hit I will go for it. But they never gave me any loose stuff. So I thought I'd just stay there. I thought the main thing is not to lose another wicket. If we had given another wicket away they would have been at us tomorrow morning," said Jayawardene at the end of the day.

Tillakaratne who was on 46 when Jayawardene reached fifty, sped past with his 19th Test fifty in 156 minutes and 116 balls (8 fours) and scored boundaries at will using his feet to the spinners and then driving the fast bowlers off the front foot on a pitch which had slowed down.

"It was one of the disastrous outings I ever had in fielding. Nothing went my way. It was just one of those days. I felt really bad I had let the team down," said Jayawardene reflecting on his poor fielding performance.

"Things could have been more different if I had stuck on to those catches. I just can't express how bad I feel about it," he said.

Speaking on yesterday's play, Jayawardene said: "Everyone fought really hard. They gave there best out there and I gave my best as well. The job is not even half done. There's a lot to be done and hopefully things will be rosy tomorrow".

Jayawardene said the pitch was getting slower and slower and the spinners were getting a bit more turn, bounce and bite. "As long as you can concentrate hard and try not to play loose shots, you can survive," he said.

"The quicks are trying to bowl a decent line and length. It's a patient game and the spinners are trying little things out there. We have to negotiate that. As long as we can keep them out there, it won't be easy for them to bowl at us. We have to survive for at least another session tomorrow and then see what we can do," he said.

Sri Lanka will be looking to get as close to the New Zealand total to prevent them from setting them a target on the final day.

But New Zealand are not thinking of enforcing the follow-on even if Sri Lanka fail to save the follow-on. Coach Denis Aberhart said: "I don't think we will enforce the follow-on. We would try and look to see the target and make sure we are not batting last. Hopefully, our spinners will come into play on the last day.

If we can take two early wickets tomorrow it would put them under pressure because they have a long tail".

He said his players stuck it out on the field very well.

"It's hard out there. I think they stuck it out pretty well and I think they did create some opportunities perhaps more or less would have gone our way.

In the first session I think 75 percent of the runs were scored from boundaries. I think 58 percent at the end of the day, but still there were too many four balls. "That's the way they play.

We know that they don't work hard for the singles and the twos. They wait for the loose balls and they put it away.

That's the strength of their game. We need to bowl a lot more dot balls. We did create some periods today which created pressure and created opportunities from there. We need to do that more," Aberhart said.

He said the wicket had slowed down a bit and when the bowlers went off line it was easy for the batsmen to take toll of.

"They hit the ball down the ground more than we did yesterday (Saturday) but that's more the nature of our attack compared to their attack and their batsmen. They showed that from the amount of boundaries they hit. It's a another hot day in tomorrow and we've got only four wickets. These conditions are tough for us. The players have stuck it out pretty well and they are pretty well acclimatised now," said Aberhart.

Marvan Atapattu having being disposed by umpire Harper who gave him out lbw to a ball that would have easily missed leg stump on the second evening, and nightwatchman Chaminda Vaas surviving only 12 balls yesterday morning, Sri Lanka were up against it at 11-2.

But half-centuries from Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya saw Sri Lanka reach a respectable 114-2 before both batsmen were dismissed 22 balls of each other to once again give New Zealand the upperhand. But Jayawardene and Tillakaratne steadied the rocking boat by producing another century stand.

Sangakkara had a charmed innings. Dropped at 11 and 23 by bowler Bond and then by Fleming at slip off Oram, the left-hander waded into the New Zealand bowling taking 10 off a Bond over inclusive of two fours and did likewise to spinner Vettori whom he hit for three fours in the over, the final boundary enabling him to complete his 10th Test fifty in 104 minutes off 73 balls with 10 fours.

Jayasuriya who was prepared to play second fiddle to Sangakkara in a third wicket stand that realised 103 in 134 minutes, was unluckily dismissed without adding to his lunch score of 50. He played a ball from Bond onto his boot and the ball rebounded off it to hit his leg bail. What a way to an end an innings. Jayasuriya departed having done all the hard work in a stay of 153 minutes and 110 balls and hit eight fours.

New Zealand who captured his wicket in the third over after lunch, had another success three overs later when Sangakkara having hit off-spinner Wiseman for two consecutive fours attempted a third and got the leading edge to be caught at extra cover by Oram who had to run some yards to his left from cover.

It was Sangakkara's over zealousness that proved his undoing when he could have easily made use of the two lapses to convert them into a century. His 67 runs came off 98 balls in 150 minutes and comprised 14 fours, nine of them off spinners Vettori and Wiseman.

The pitch was still good for batting and all what Sri Lanka had to do was to take a cue from New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming and wait for the loose balls to score his runs. Jayawardene and Tillakaratne were more enterprising than the New Zealanders and Fleming in a desperate effort to break the partnership took the second new ball as soon as it became due after 80 overs. But although Tillakaratne surived a confident lbw shout from Tuffey, the runs started to flow before rain put an end to the day's proceedings.

NEW ZEALAND 1ST INNINGS 515-7 decl. 
(S.P. Fleming 274 n.o., 
M.H. Richardson 85, 
S.B. Styris 63)

SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS (overnight 5-1)

M.S. Atapattu lbw b Tuffey			  0
S.T. Jayasuriya b Bond				 50
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas c Fleming b Bond 		  4
K.C. Sangakkara c Oram b Wiseman 		 67
D.P.M. Jayawardene not out 			 58
H.P. Tillakaratne not out 			 71
EXTRAS (lb-14, nb-3) 				 17

TOTAL (4 wkts at close, 84.1 overs, 368 mins)	267

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Atapattu), 2-11 (Vaas), 
                 3-114 (Jayasuriya), 4-134 (Sangakkara).
TO BAT: R.S. Kaluwitharana, H.D.P.K. Dharmasena, 
        K. Lokuarachchi, P.N.B. Nissanka, M. Muralitharan.

BOWLING: Tuffey 14-4-39-1 (1nb), Bond 16-3-64-2 (1nb),
         Oram 15.1-5-39-0 (1nb), Vettori 21-6-59-0, 
         Wiseman 18-4-52-1.

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