Murali's double strike leaves B'desh tottering

by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan struck twice in his first over to push Bangladesh towards defeat in the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

Trailing on the first innings by 182 runs Bangladesh slumped to 36-3 in their second innings before a torrential downpour ended play on the second day with 12 overs remaining to be bowled. Bangladesh still trail by 146 runs with seven wickets in hand and three days of play ahead of them, weather permitting.

Both Muralitharan's victims Shahriar Nafees and Mohammed Ashraful were dismissed without offering a stroke, after Lasith Malinga had initiated the breakthrough with his first ball of the innings by having Omar caught down the leg side.

Earlier Sri Lanka resuming at 160-3 closed their innings at 370-9 at the fall of Tillakaratne Dilshan's wicket for 86.

Play for most of the day continued at pedestrian pace as Sri Lanka built on a substantial lead over Bangladesh. It was not so much the batsmen who were to blame for such a state of affairs but the nature of the pitch, which hardly encouraged any stroke play.

Any thoughts that Sri Lanka would thrash the Bangladeshi bowlers around the park were dispelled by the pitch, which had a lot to do with the rate of scoring. It was slow and sluggish and it spun to cause doubts in the minds of the batsmen.

Stroke players like Mahela Jayawardene and Dilshan found the going tough as the ball hardly came onto the bat.

Although both of them made half-centuries and was joined by the obdurate Tilan Samaraweera, the cricket overall was hardly exciting to watch and if any spectator fell a sleep (there wasn't that many anyway), no one could find fault with him for doing so.

The pitch was ideally suited for a player of Samaraweera's technique and temperament. He dawdled for 252 minutes and used up 198 balls in compiling an innings of 78. It is no way demeaning Samaraweera's great powers of concentration, but against the kind of bowling Bangladesh offered, he could have at least been a bit more enterprising.

During his tenure at the wicket Samaraweera forged partnerships with Mahela Jayawardene (63) and Tillakaratne Dilshan, which produced 165 runs.

Jayawardene's 120-ball innings where he hit seven fours and an exquisite six over extra cover, saw him become the fifth Sri Lankan batsman to pass 5000 Test runs. He was playing in his 70th Test.

Dilshan's perky innings of ended when Rasel armed with the second new ball disturbed his bails as he attempted a big pull across the line. His 124-ball knock comprised eight fours, the most hit by a batsman in the Sri Lankan innings.

Bangladesh bowlers kept on pegging away gamely with their depleted attack. Left-arm spinners Mohammad Rafique and Enamul Haque bowled a major share of the overs 70 between them. Although Rafique was successful in capturing his sixth five-for in an innings in a 21-Test career, the luckless Haque bowled equally well.

BANGLADESH 1ST INNINGS 188 
SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS (overnight 160-3) 
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 c Mashud b Hossain		78 
D.P.M. Jayawardene c Mashud b Rafique		63 
T.M. Dilshan b Rasel				86 
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas lbw b Rafique			05 
H.M.R.K.B. Herath c Mashud b Rafique		13 
M. Muralitharan c Mashud b Rafique		03 
C.R.D. Fernando not out				01 
EXTRAS (lb-6, nb-20, w-1) 			27 
TOTAL  (9 wkts decl., 110.2 overs, 449 mins) 	370  

Fall of wickets: 
1-41 (Atapattu), 2-97 (Jayasuriya), 3-130 (Sangakkara),
4-231  (Jayawardene), 5-295 (Samaraweera), 6-306 (Vaas),
7-337 (Herath), 8-345  (Muralitharan), 9-370 (Dilshan). 
To bat: S.L. Malinga. 
Bowling: 
Rasel 19.2-2-67-2 (9nb), Hossain 20-0-75-2  (3nb), 
Rafique 37-9-114-5, Haque 33-8-106-0(8nb), Ashraful 1-0-2-0.  

BANGLADESH 2ND INNINGS 
Javed Omar c Sangakkara b Malinga 		09 
Shahriar Nafees b Muralitharan 			13 
Habibul Bashar not out				13 
Mohammed Ashraful lbw b Muralitharan 		00 
Thushar Imran not out 				00 
EXTRAS (nb-1)	
TOTAL  (3 wkts at close, 9 overs, 43 mins) 	36 

Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Omar), 2-35 (Nafees), 3-35 (Ashraful).   
Bowling: 
Vaas 4-2-13-0,Malinga 3-0-22-1 (1nb),Muralitharan 1-1-0-2,
Herath 1-0-1-0.