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| Wednesday, 17 March 2004 |
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Murali captures his 500th Test wicket : Bowlers dominate on lively Asgiriya pitch by Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Kandy
KANDY, Tuesday - The dominance of the ball over bat at the Asgiriya International Stadium here today nearly overshadowed Muttiah Muralitharan's feat of becoming only the third bowler in the world to take 500 Test wickets. A lively Asgiriya pitch saw 17 wickets tumble on the opening day of the second cricket Test between Sri Lanka and Australia. At the end of the day the honours were even with Australia being shot out for their lowest total against Sri Lanka - 120 and then Sri Lanka in their turn not faring any better slumping to 92 for seven. Australia's previous lowest was 140 on this ground five years ago and Sri Lanka are in danger of being bowled out for their lowest total against Australia which is 153 at Perth in 1987-88. Sri Lanka's outstanding performance on the field was not matched by their batsmen who were once again guilty of playing loose shots. Muralitharan started the Test needing four wickets to join West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh and Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne as the only bowlers to take 500 wickets in the history of Test cricket. He captured his first wicket in his fifth over by trapping Damien Martyn lbw for one and then proceeded to add the wickets of top scorer Matthew Hayden for 53 (also lbw) and Jason Gillespie caught at slip by Jayawardene, before getting the all important 500th wicket when he got through the defence of Michael Kasprowicz to bowl him for a duck. Muralitharan was elated at his achievement and leapt in the air before being congratulated by his teammates. There were celebrations around his home ground with firecrackers being lit and banners urging him to go after West Indian Courtney Walsh's world record of 519 Test wickets. Muralitharan was the quickest to the 500-wicket mark playing in his 87th Test. Walsh required 129 Tests and Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne took 108 Tests to achieve the landmark. He finished with four wickets for 48 while the economical Vaas had two for 14 off 11.2 overs and Zoysa on his return to Test cricket after 20 months took a career best four for 54. Australia's joy of winning the toss and batting first for the second successive time in the series was shortlived as Zoysa and Vaas bowled splendidly to have them four down for 61 by lunch. It would have easily been five down had Hashan Tillakaratne not dropped a sitter at first slip when Hayden edged Zoysa with his score on 11. Compared to the previous day when it rained and the ground staff was unable to take the covers off, today was a complete contrast with bright sunshine when the two captains went out for the toss. The moisture generated from the pitch that had been kept covered for quite a while provided enough life and movement for the fast bowlers. When Sri Lanka went in half an hour before tea to commence their innings, the pitch had lost much of its life and it was a combination of bad shots and good bowling that brought about the downfall of the batsmen. Kasprowicz who doesn't give anything away picked up the first three wickets, two of them lbw and after Gillespie had got rid of Sangakkara for five, Warne got into the act with two wickets in his second over and then rounded off the day with the wicket of Tillakaratne whom he had caught behind for 16 in the penultimate over before play was called off for bad light. Sri Lanka team underwent three changes from the side that lost the first Test at Galle with three players marking their return to Test cricket. Tilan Samaraweera who was handicapped by a groin injury in that Test was declared unfit after undergoing a fitness test this morning and Sri Lanka drafted in left-hander Avishka Gunawardene in his place. Gunawardene was returning to Test cricket after four years, having played the last of his limited three Tests against South Africa at Cape Town in 2000-01. Also making a Test return was left-arm fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa who replaced Kumar Dharmasena. Zoysa last played for Sri Lanka against England at Birmingham in 2002. The third change was the return of right-arm leg-spinner Kaushal Lokkuarachchi ahead of Upul Chandana. Lokuarachchi last played against West Indies in June last year before a four-month disciplinary ban saw him miss the England series. For all the speculation that surrounded Australia's selection, they finally named an unchanged side. AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS J.L. Langer lbw b Zoysa 03 M.L. Hayden lbw b Muralitharan 54 R.T. Ponting lbw b Vaas 10 D.R. Martyn lbw b Muralitharan 01 D.S. Lehmann b Zoysa 08 A. Symonds c Tillakaratne b Zoysa 06 A.C. Gilchrist c Sangakkara b Zoysa 00 S.K. Warne c Muralitharan b Vaas 18 J.N. Gillespie c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 08 M.S. Kasprowicz b Muralitharan 00 S.E.G. MacGill not out 08 EXTRAS (b-1, lb-3) 04 TOTAL (all out, 42.2 overs, 200 mins) 120 FALL O WICKETS: 1-25 (Langer), 2-47 (Ponting), 3-50 (Martyn), 4-60 (Lehmann), 5-84 (Symonds), 6-84 (Gilchrist), 7-86 (Hayden), 8-100 (Gillespie), 9-106 (Kasprowicz), 10-120 (Warne). BOWLING: Vaas 11.2-5-14-2, Zoysa 16-3-54-4, Muralitharan 15-4-48-4. SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS M.S. Atapattu c Gilchrist b Kasprowicz 09 S.T. Jayasuriya lbw b Kasprowicz 01 D.A. Gunawardene lbw b Kasprowicz 13 K.C. Sangakkara c Symonds b Gillespie 05 D.P.M. Jayawardene c Symonds b Warne 17 H.P. Tillakaratne c Gilchrist b Warne 16 T.M. Dilshan lbw b Warne 00 W.P.U.J.C. Vaas not out 16 D.N.T. Zoysa not out 00 EXTRAS (b-4, lb-9, nb-2) 15 TOTAL (7 wkts at close, 39 overs, 171 mins) 92 FALL OF WICKETS : 1-6 (Jayasuriya), 2-34 (Gunawardene), 3-39 (Atapattu), 4-49 (Sangakkara), 5-67 (Jayawardene), 6-67 (Dilshan), 7-88 (Tillakaratne). TO BAT: K.S. Lokuarachchi, M. Muralitharan. BOWLING: Gillespie 12-4-25-1, Kasprowicz 15-4-33-3 (2nb), Warne 8-2-15-3, Symonds 2-1-1-0, MacGill 2-0-5-0. Congrats from Sumathipala Thilanga Sumathipala, President - Sri Lanka Cricket congratulates Muttiah Muralitharan on his achievement of capturing 500 test wickets. This is an achievement of a truly great bowler. His success is further emphasized by the fact that only two other bowlers have reached this milestone in the history of the game. This remarkable achievement is made even more memorable by the fact that Muralitharan has captured his 500-test wicket in Kandy: his home ground, added Mr. Sumathipala. "I wish Murali the very best in the future and I am confident that he will become the bowler to capture the highest number of test wickets very soon. Sri Lanka is proud of you and all of us at Sri Lanka Cricket congratulate you on your success". Media unit, Sri Lanka Cricket |
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