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.
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).
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.
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