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Lanka leave it too late - Test ends in a draw

Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Kandy

KANDY, Wednesday - Sri Lanka had to settle for a draw in the second cricket Test against New Zealand after an inspiring spell of off-spin bowling from Muttiah Muralitharan who set up a new world record for the highest number of five-wicket takes and also took his 450th Test wicket at the Asgiriya International Stadium here today.

New Zealand were finally dismissed in their second innings for 183 at tea, leaving Sri Lanka to chase 191 for a series victory in a minimum of 38 overs. Sri Lanka finished on 72 for one wicket off 30 overs before the match was called off with seven overs remaining. Their task was made much harder when bad light knocked off a further two overs.

Sri Lanka seemed to have given up the run chase when they sent Sangakkara to open the batting with Sanath Jayasuriya. They could have at least made an attempt by asking Romesh Kaluwitharana to go in first with Jayasuriya and have a bash at the bowling. If things didn't work out their way they could have close it up. But it was negative thinking on their part and the Kiwis would have been quite satisfied with the drawn result.

For Sri Lanka to have any chance of getting anywhere close to the winning total, they needed a big innings from Jayasuriya. But the left-hander made only nine before he lofted a catch to mid-on off Shane Bond. With that dismissal ended whatever hopes Sri Lanka had of a successful run chase.

Sangakkara (27 not out) and Jayawardene (32 not out) did not press too hard on the accelerator and got some useful batting practice ahead of the one-day triangular series which starts on Saturday. Sri Lanka were left to rue their slow scoring in the fourth afternoon when only 72 runs were scored in 28 overs. Had they been a bit more positive, they could have had enough time and overs on their hands to make a match of it.

Muralitharan finished with figures of five for 49 off 39 overs, for his 37th instance of five-wicket in an innings taking him past New Zealand fast bowler Sir Richard Hadlee's world record of 36.

Muralitharan also captured his 450th wicket playing in his 80th Test, when he dismissed Darrel Tuffey for one having him caught by Jayasuriya at deep mid wicket. Sri Lanka bowlers met with stiff resistance from New Zealand's eighth wicket pair as they pressed hard for victory on the final day.

Having captured six wickets in the first session of play, they were held up by wicket-keeper Robbie Hart and Paul Wiseman who added 40 invaluable runs in 96 minutes and used up as much as 28.1 overs batting almost the entire afternoon session.

The stand was finally ended by Vaas who had Hart edging a catch behind the wicket to Kaluwitharana. Hart made 12 in 113 minutes and 97 balls. More than the runs he scored it was the time he consumed in the middle that was vital from New Zealand's point of view.

Muralitharan then had Tuffey caught by Jayasuriya at deep midwicket for one for his 450th wicket. He is stands third in the all time Test bowling list behind West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh who has 519 wickets from 132 Tests and Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne who has 491 wickets from 107 Tests.

The innings was soon wrapped up by Vaas who finally put an end to Wiseman's resistance by having him caught at first slip for a career best score of 29.

He stuck it out for 121 minutes and 109 balls hitting three fours and ensured New Zealand's safety in the Test and also the series which ended in a nil-all draw. New Zealand were pushed on the defensive when play began on the final day when they lost six wickets for 52 runs off 36 overs in the extended morning session. Prabath Nissanka gave Sri Lanka the early breakthrough they needed by having Mark Richardson caught behind by Kaluwitharana for 55. Richardson who has been New Zealand's most consistent batsman in the series added four runs to his overnight total before being dismissed in the seventh over of the morning. He made his runs in 142 minutes and faced 101 balls hitting one six and six fours.

It was Richardson's second half-century of the Test. He made a similar score in the first innings. He finished the series with an impressive average of 67 scoring 201 runs from four innings (once not out).

Seven minutes later Sinclair fell to Muralitharan's arm ball and he was smartly stumped by Kaluwitharana without scoring to make New Zealand 110-3. Sinclair had a poor series scoring 21 runs in four innings (17, 1, 3, 0) which may result in him being left out of the one-day squad.

New Zealand went on the defensive adding just five runs off 61 balls before Styris struggling for survival fell to Vaas, mistiming a slower ball to Muralitharan at mid-on. He took 42 minutes to get off the mark and didn't trouble the scorers after that. Dharmasena took the prize wicket of Fleming when he had the New Zealand captain caught behind for 33 made in 147 minutes. At that stage New Zealand were in real danger at 136-5.

Fleming was one of the few batsmen to successfully combat Muralitharan in the series. It soon became 139-7 when Jacob Oram fell leg before to Muralitharan's arm ball and Vettori coming to bat with a runner was bowled round his legs without scoring. New Zealand went to lunch at 144-7 with Muralitharan having taken three of the six wickets to fall in the session.

The drawn series meant that Sri Lanka remain in fourth position with an average of 1.13 in the ICC Test championship rankings, while New Zealand stay on third place but with an increased average from 1.18 to 1.24. South Africa (1.59 ) and Australia (1.54 ) are one-two in the rankings.

NEW ZEALAND - 1ST INNINGS 305

(M. H. Richardson 55, J. D. P. Oram 74, D. L. Vettori 55)

SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS 298

(S. T. Jayasuriya 82, H. P. Tillakaratne 93, P. J. Wiseman 4-104)

NEW ZEALAND - 2ND INNINGS (Overnight 92-1)

M. H. Richardson c Kaluwitharana b Nissanka  55
M. J. Horne c Tillakaratne b Muralitharan        27
S. P. Fleming c Kaluwitharana b Dharmasena   33
M. S. Sinclair st Kaluwitharana b Muralitharan   0
S. B. Styris c Muralitharan b Vaas                  1
J. D. P. Oram lbw b Muralitharan                  16
R. G. Hart c Kaluwitharana b Vaas                12
D. L. Vettori b Muralitharan                          0
P. J. Wiseman c Tillakaratne b Vaas             29
D. R. Tuffey c Jayasuriya b Muralitharan         1
S. D. Bond not out                                     1

Extras (b-1, lb-6, nb-1)                              8

TOTAL (all out, 97.3 overs, 373 mins)       183

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-65 (Horne), 2-109 (Richardson), 3-110 (Sinclair), 4-115 (Styris), 5-136 (Fleming),. 6-139 (Oram), 7-139 (Vettori), 8-179 (Hart), 9-182 (Tuffey), 10-183 (Wiseman).

BOWLING: Vaas 15.3-6-31-3, Nissanka 10-4-18-1, Dharmasena 12-2-32-1, Lokuarachchi 14-3-26-0, Muralitharan 39-18-49-5 (1nb), Jayasuriya 7-0-20-0.

SRI LANKA - 2ND INNINGS

K. C. Sangakkara not out                                27
S. T. Jayasuriya c Richardson b Bond                 9
D. P. M. Jayawardene not out                         32
Extras (lb-4)                                                 4

TOTAL (one wkt at stumps, 30 overs, 121 mins) 72

FALL OF WICKET: 1-14 (Jayasuriya).

BOWLING: Tuffey 9-3-18-0, Bond 6-1-19-1, Wiseman 9-4-20-0, Vettori 6-1-11-0.

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