Lanka seize advantage as Bangladesh collapse

by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

One has to pity the plight of Bangladesh more so the coach Dav Whatmore. One moment they looked so promising and threatening to defy the challenge Sri Lanka had thrown to bat first on the opening day of the first cricket Test at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday. The next moment they were down in the dumps.

What looked like a decent total at 155-2, Bangladesh collapsed in a heap to be dismissed for 188. Within a matter of ten overs they lost eight wickets for 33 runs and they had only themselves to blame for that debacle. By the close Sri Lanka had wiped out 160 of those runs losing three wickets and were well placed to take a big first innings lead despite the pitch having turned into a spinners delight.

Sanath Jayasuriya for whom the ground holds special memories looked threatening having raced to 46 off 54 balls when his innings was rudely cut short by a brilliant piece of fielding at extra cover by Aftab Ahmed who held onto a full-blooded drive. Frustration got the better of Kumar Sangakkara who did not bat with his usual fluency. He holed out to mid-on hitting across the line, while skipper Marvan Atapattu was unfortunate to be given out lbw after he had edged the ball onto his pads.

Tilan Samaraweera and Mahela Jayawardene saw the day through, the latter batting with a badly bruised right shin, which was restricting his running. He was hit in that area while fielding at silly point.

Despite losing debutant Shahriar Nafees for three in the fourth over, Bangladesh batted positively to see through the first session losing only two wickets for 112. It was a total more than what Bangaldesh would have bargained for against Sri Lanka's five-man pace cum spin attack.

Skipper Habibul Bashar who came in at the fall of the first wicket, set the tone with an array of strokes that brought him his 21st Test half-century off 73 balls (7 fours).

With Bashar prepared to attack the bowling, opener Javed Omar who was missed by Atapattu at mid off on two, was more than happy to feed him as much of the strike. The pair put on 59 for the second wicket in as many minutes before Omar edged an outswinger from Fernando behind the wicket to end the partnership. His contribution was 30.

Bashar continued to use his feet to the spinners and kept the scoreboard ticking at a healthy rate of over four an over. Mohammad Ashraful's one intention was to block one end off and preserve his wicket while his captain scored runs from the other.

This way the pair was successful to a point building up a useful 92-run partnership in 74 minutes for the third wicket. When everything was going tickety-boo and Bangladesh had the Sri Lankans on the defensive, a sudden rush of blood from Ashraful who had till then played the passive role in the partnership batting for 74 minutes, brought about a dramatic collapse in the Bangladesh batting.

When he scored 87 in the 3-day practice game on Friday, Ashraful said that the team expected a lot from him every time he went out to bat because of his successful run in England. However all what he said was lost in one moment or rashness yesterday.

With the exception of skipper Bashar who was run out by a smart piece of fielding by Dilshan at forward short leg for an admirable 84 scored off 96 balls (12 fours), the rest of the Bangladesh batting was consumed by spinners Rangana Herath and Muttiah Muralitharan who took the last seven wickets within a matter of 46 minutes.

BANGLADESH 1ST  INNINGS 

Javed  Omar c Sangakkara b Fernando		30 
Shahriar Nafees b Malinga			3 
Habibul Bashar run out			84 
Mohammed Ashraful c Fernando b Herath		17 
Thushar Imran b Herath			0 
Aftab  Ahmed c Samaraweera b Herath		0 
Khaled Mashud c Samaraweera b Muralitharan	2 
Mohammed Rafique lbw b Muralitharan		9 
Syed  Rasel st Sangakkara b Herath		19 
Shahadat Hossain lbw b Muralitharan		2 
Enamul Haque not out 			0   

EXTRAS (b-8, lb-2, nb-11, w-1)			22 

TOTAL  (all out, 44 overs, 195 mins)		188 

Fall  of wickets: 1-4 (Nafees), 2-63 (Omar), 3-155 (Asharaful), 4-156 (Imran), 
5-156  (Bashar), 6-158 (Mashud), 7-158 (Ahmed), 8-170 (Rafique), 
9-176 (Hussain),  10-188 (Rasel).  

Bowling: Vaas 6-1-25-0, Malinga 8-1-44-1 (1w, 7nb),  
Fernando 4-0-29-1 (2nb), Muralitharan 14-1-42-3,Herath 12-4-38-4  (2nb). 

SRI  LANKA 1ST INNINGS 

S.T. Jayasuriya c Ahmed b Hossain		46 
M.S.  Atapattu lbw b Rasel			18 
K.C.  Sangakkara c Ashraful b Rafique 		30 
T.T.  Samaraweera not out			33 
D.P.M. Jayawardene not out			17 

EXTRAS (lb-4, nb-11, w-1)			16 

TOTAL (3 wkts at close, 44 overs, 184 mins)		160  

Fall  of wickets: 1-41 (Atapattu), 2-97 (Jayasuriya), 3-130 (Sangakkara).  

To  bat: T.M. Dilshan, W.P.U.J.C. Vaas, H.M.R.K.B. Herath, M. Muralitharan, 
S.L.  Malinga, C.R.D. Fernando. 

Bowling: Rasel 9-1-41-1 (6nb), Hossain 11-0-48-1 (1w,  2nb), Rafique 14-5-35-1, 
Haque 9-3-30-0 (3nb), Ashraful  1-0-2-0.