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| Monday, 5 May 2003 |
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Lankan bowlers make early strikes on Kiwis batting Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Kandy KANDY, Sunday - Sri Lankan seamers Chaminda Vaas and Prabath Nissanka struck early blows to have New Zealand struggling at 75 for four wickets on a restricted second day of the second cricket Test played at the Asgiriya International Stadium. Vaas struck twice in his second and fourth overs having Matt Horne caught behind for one, getting the outside edge to a ball that swung away late, and Matthew Sinclair for three as he offered no stroke to an inswinger that hit his pad on off stump. Sandwiched between these falls, was the prize wicket of Stephen Fleming for a duck. The Zealand captain who made 274 not out and 69 not out in the drawn first Test at the Sara Stadium last week played across the line to a Nissanka delivery and paid the penalty. Having chosen to bat first on a grassless pitch New Zealand soon found themselves in trouble at 11-3 in the seventh over. However the inform Mark Richardson and Scott Styris steadied the innings by sharing a fourth wicket stand of 60 in 96 minutes before Muralitharan struck in his eighth over to have Styris caught off bat-pad by Hashan Tillakaratne at silly mid off. Styris not too happy with the decision was dismissed for 32 scored off 62 balls with five fours. Richardson who has become the anchorman in the New Zealand batting line up survived till the close to remain unbeaten on 32 scored in 142 minutes with five fours. Jacob Oram having joined him was on nought when bad light brought an early end to play with 11 of the scheduled 45 overs remaining to be bowled. Skipper Tillakaratne had a problem with his bowlers as the constant change in light forced him to take his fast bowlers off and bring on the spinners to keep the game going, lest the umpires offer the light to the batsmen. Nissanka and Vaas bowled splendidly on a pitch where the ball tended to keep low but otherwise didn't offer them much. The prospects of the Test getting underway looked much brighter today than the opening day when the skies cleared and gave for bright sunshine throughout the day. The ground had absorbed a lot of water in the past few days and the area which was of concern was in front of the scoreboard and to its left where it was muddy. However the efforts of the ground staff headed by Janaka Pathirana and curator Roger Abeysinghe under the guidance of the Cricket Board's advisor of pitches, Anuruddha Polonowita performed an excellent job under trying circumstances to get the game started by 3.30 p.m. today. The umpires needed two inspections at 1 p.m. and another, an hour later to convince themselves that the ground was fit for play. Play is due to commence at 10 a.m. tomorrow to catch upon the lost hours of play. NEW ZEALAND - 1ST INNINGS M.H. Richardson not out 32 M.J. Horne c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 1 S.P. Fleming lbw b Nissanka 0 M.S. Sinclair lbw b Vaas 3 S.B. Styris c Tillakaratne b Muralitharan 32 J.D.P. Oram not out 0 Extras (B-2, LB-2, NB-3) 7 TOTAL (4 wkts at close, FALL OF WICKETS: 1-6 (Horne), 2-7 (Fleming), 3-11 (Sinclair), 4-71 (Styris). To bat: R.G. Hart, D.L. Vettori, P.J. Wiseman, D.R. Tuffey, S.D. Bond. Bowling: Vaas 10-5-19-2 (2NB), Nissanka 7-2-16-1, Muralitharan 9-2-18-1 (1NB), Jayasuriya 3-0-7-0, Dharmasena 4-1-11-0, Lokuarachchi 1-1-0-0. SRI LANKA: Hashan Tillakaratne , M.S. Atapattu, S.T. Jayasuriya, K.C. Sangakkara, D.P.M. Jayawardene, R.S. Kaluwitharana, H.D.P.K. Dharmasena, W.P.U.J.C. Vaas, K.S. Lokuarachchi, P.N.B. Nissanka, M. Muralitharan. |
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