Sri Lanka keep victory hopes alive

Dinesh Weerawansa

TEST CRICKET: Yet another superb spell of spin bowling by Muttiah Muralitharan, followed by two fine knocks by veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya and skipper Mahela Jayawradena kept Sri Lanka's victory hopes alive on the fourth day of their second cricket Test against South Africa continued at Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo yesterday.

Once again, it was the 'Murali magic' that gave Sri Lanka an outside chance of winning the second Test to make a 2-0 whitewash in the two-Test series, played for the Janashakthi trophy. Muralithatran added three more wickets to his overnight spell to finish with 7 for 97 and complete a match bag of 12 for 225 runs, his fourth in successive matches.

The visitors were bowled out for 311 runs off 107.5 overs in 446 minutes in their second innings. With that vital 40-run first innings lead, South Africa left Sri Lanka a victory target of 352 runs in five and half sessions.

Then it was that explosive knock of 73 by Jayasuriya and an unbeaten 77 by captain Jayawardena that kept Sri Lanka's dreams alive as the home team ended the day at 262 for 5, still needing 90 runs off the final day for victory but with only five second innings wickets in hand.

It took just one hour for the home team to run through the South African tail after the visitors resumed the fourth day at their overnight total of 257 for 7 with an overall lead of 297 runs. After 28 minutes of batting last morning, Nicky Boje was caught behind by Prasanna Jayawardena off Muralitharan, giving Sri Lankan champion spinner his fourth successive match haul of ten wickets and above.

Thus, Muralitharan improved on his Test world records for the most number of five wickets or more in an innings to 56 times and his most number of match bags of ten wickets and more to 18, a feat hard to emulate.

Boje and Mark Boucher added 45 valuable runs for the eighth wicket, that could well be a decisive factor in the Test, along with the 40-run first innings lead Ashwell Prince and his lads had in the first innings.

Thirteen balls later, Muralitharan captured sixth of his seven wickets when he trapped Dale Steyn, who went on the back foot and was caught plumb in front. Finally, Muralitharan had that important wicket of Boucher, but not before the batsman had scored 65 runs in 123 minutes off 102 balls with two sixes and seven boundaries. Boucher tried a powerful sweep shot against Muralitharan but was only successful in seeing the ball lodge in the armpit of Tillakaratne Dilshan at short leg.

Sri Lanka, which has not successfully chased a victory target of over 326 runs before, started towards their 352-run target losing out of form opener Upul Tharanga early, After a highly successfully run on the recent tour of England, Tharanga continued his poor form against South Africans when he edged a Makhaya Nitini delivery that angled away to Herschelle Gibbs at the second slip with just 12 runs on the board.

But former captain Jayasuriya and one drop bat Kumar Sangakkara raised Sri Lanka's hopes with a decisive 82-run second wicket partnership. But the latter could not come close to anywhere near his record breaking performance in the first Test, offering a low catch to Hashim Amla at point off Shaun Pollock.

South African bowlers had a big relief when they got rid of Jayasuriya, just when the dashing opener was heading for another match winning role. Jayasuriya made a run-a-ball 73 before he gloved a bouncing Boje delivery to Amla at short leg.

Jayasuriya signaled the half century with a second successive six off Shaun Pollock. It was his 30th Test half century.

Sri Lanka also lost two crucial wickets of Tillakaratne Dilshan (18) and Chamara Kapugedara (13) while Jayawardena was holding the other end. But skipper Jayawardena showed the courage of a true captain and led from front to remain unbeaten on 77 and battle yet another day.

It looked as if South Africa was making a great come back to level the two-Test series when they had Kapugedara as the fifth wicket with only 201 runs on the board, still needing 151 runs to win with only five second innings wickets in had.

But Mahela Jayawardena played an exemplarly innings with a lot of patience and courage to keep home team's victory chances alive. Joined by wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardena, the Lankan captain did the recovery job once more.

The Jayawardena alliance has so far put on an unfinished 61-run stand for the sixth wicket and unless South Africans get in to action early this morning, the visitors' hopes could well be shattered.

However, Sri Lanka's successful run chase in a second innings of a Test is only 326 runs when they emerged victorious against Zimbabwe in 1997/98. Nevertheless, the records won't matter for unpredictable Sri Lankans who are looking for their third successive Test win, having beaten England by 134 runs in the third Test at Trent Bridge and then crushing South Africans in the first Test by a thumping innings and 153 runs.

Sri Lanka could look forward to win the Test as far as the two Jayawardenas are at the crease.

South Africa

1st innings: 361 (A. Prince 86, A.B. de Villiers 95, S. Pollock 57 not out, M. Muralitharan 5-128, L. Malinga 3-81)

Sri Lanka 1st innings: 321 (C. Kapugedera 63, F. Maharoof 56, C. Vaas 64, D. Steyn 5-82, M. Ntini 4-84)

SOUTH AFRICA 2ND INNINGS  (overnight 257-7):
H. Gibbs c Jayasuriya b Muralitharan		 92
A. Hall c P. Jayawardene b Maharoof 		 32
J. Rudolph run out				 15
H. Amla run out					  8
A. Prince c and b Muralitharan   		 17
A.B. de Villiers c Dilshan b Muralitharan	 33
M. Boucher c Dilshan b Muralitharan		 65
S. Pollock c Tharanga b Muralitharan		 14
N. Boje c P. Jayawardene b Muralitharan		 15
D. Steyn lbw b Muralitharan			  0
M. Ntini not out				  5
Extras: (b9, lb4, nb1, w1)			 15
TOTAL						311
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-76, 2-119, 3-131, 4-161, 5-206,
 6-207, 7-235, 8-280, 9-282
Bowling: Vaas 19-4-53-0, Malinga 12-1-55-0,
Maharoof 21-3-53-1, Muralitharan 46.5-12-97-7, 
Jayasuriya 9-0-40-0 Overs: 107.5.
 
SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS:
U. Tharanga c Gibbs b Ntini  			  0
S. Jayasuriya c Amla b Boje			 73
K. Sangakkara c Amla b Pollock			 39
M. Jayawardene not out				 77
T. Dilshan c Gibbs b Boje			 18
C. Kapugedera c De Villiers b Boje 		 13
P. Jayawardene not out				 27
Extras: (b4, lb5, nb3, w3) 			 15
TOTAL (for five wickets)			262

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-12, 2-94, 3-121, 4-164, 5-201
Bowling: Ntini 7.2-2-13-1, Steyn 12.4-1-64-0,
 Boje 23-8-76-3, Pollock 15-2-54-1, Hall 14-2-46-0.